


Third Time's the Charm

by RangerLauren



Series: Dad Universe [1]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Background Lapidot - Freeform, But she's gonna w o r k through em, Canon Divergent After the Movie, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Greg is a good mf dad, Peridot’s an epic gamer, She needs love plz, She's def been through some shit tho, Spinel has issues, Spinel is baby, Steven just wants to help oof, TW implied/referenced abuse, TW self-harm, TWs marked in chapters as well, This is completely self-indulgent btw lmao, We need more Dad Greg in this fandom anyway, tw panic attack
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-09
Updated: 2020-05-15
Packaged: 2021-02-01 04:03:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 37,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21369043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RangerLauren/pseuds/RangerLauren
Summary: Greg Universe has always been more sympathetic than the average human, especially after taking the arduous and rewarding path of fatherhood. Will it come back to bite him someday? Probably. But that certainly isn’t going to stop him from finally giving this little pink gem the love that she deserves.AKA everyone’s favorite rocker dad adopts traumatized noodle child when no one else will.
Series: Dad Universe [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1540540
Comments: 163
Kudos: 409





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Waddup nerds it's yer boi back with another thing
> 
> This whole idea was literally just a plot bunny, and then twenty pages later I'm making it into a full-blown fic lmao
> 
> But hey we need some wholesome Dad Greg content and Spinel needs love and attention so-
> 
> Hope you guys enjoyyyyyyy

The football sailed through the orange-tinted sky, whistling slightly as it cut through the cooling air. It arced perfectly and spun as it descended towards the beach, but, just as it nearly hit the sand, a short figure suddenly slid into its path and caught it securely in their arms.

“You _thought!”_ Amethyst whooped in triumph, holding the ball over her head like a trophy.

Across the beach, Steven snapped his fingers in faux disappointment. “Darn, almost had you.”

“Nah, you really didn’t,” the purple gem teased. She then turned to Pearl, who was standing at a relatively safe distance away from the action. “Hey P, think fast!”

Pearl let out an undignified shriek, just barely having the reflexes to catch the football as it was suddenly bunted in her direction. “Amethyst!” she scolded, but she was laughing all the same as she lightly tossed it to Garnet next, who smirked in silent challenge.

“Ready?” she asked; Steven could feel her intense stare boring into him even with her shades on.

“Uh...yeah?” he replied nervously, knowing full-well that he was, in fact, not ready. Around him, the others subconsciously took a few steps away from him.

Garnet cracked her neck and cranked back the arm holding the football, the other pointed straight out for accuracy. Steven planted his flip flops in the sand, held up his arms and braced himself, ready to have the wind knocked out of him from the sheer force of the throw.

He paused, realizing that Garnet had barely tossed the ball a few feet, it landing dejectedly in the sand with a small “poof” noise. Realizing that he had been tricked, his shoulders slumped. _“Garnet,_ not fair,” he complained, although he smiled as the others cracked up around him.

“One more for Garnet,” Connie remarked from her spot near the cliffside, adding another tally to Garnet’s section of her personal whiteboard. “That puts her in the lead. Sorry, Amethyst.”

“Not for long,” Amethyst grinned, stretching the muscles in her legs.

Steven laughed, watching the purple gem scoop up the ball and begin lightheartedly taunting the fusion, who appeared rather proud of her feinted throw. He had originally intended to teach Connie and the Gems how to play football, determined to spend as much time with his family as possible to make up for the long hours he spent re-growing the grass where the bio-poison had burned it away. He had quickly learned, however, that any attempts to properly teach them the sport were in vain, and soon they had settled on simply tossing the ball back and forth and gauging points based on how many times it hit the ground. Not that he minded; any form of relaxation was a blessing.

Even if some of them got a little too into it.

They tossed the football around for a few more minutes until the cheerful sound of a horn honking made them pause. Steven grinned upon seeing his dad’s van pull up to them on the shoreline, skidding slightly in the sand before coming to a halt.

“Hey, Dad!” the teenager exclaimed, running up to the van.

Greg opened the driver’s side door and stepped out. He was holding a couple of thin cardboard boxes that emanated a rather pleasant smell. “Hey, Schtu-ball!”

“Sweet, you brought pizza!” Amethyst cheered, racing up to the van and eyeing the boxes hungrily.

“One vegetarian and two cheese, as requested.” Greg held the boxes just out of Amethyst’s reach, knowing the catastrophe that would occur if she got her hands on them first. “How’s football going?”

“About as well as you’d expect,” Steven admitted with a chuckle. “Probably for the best. I’ll admit, I was a little scared to teach them how to tackle.”

Greg opened the back door of his van and set the pizzas on the carpeted floor. Steam rose into the air once the box was opened. “Well, hopefully you guys worked up an appetite anyway.”

The group gathered around the pizzas and dug in happily; well, Pearl only took a slice and refused to actually eat it, but the others, even Garnet, were glad to help finish the rest. As they ate, they joked and laughed and caught up with each other. Connie was eager to discuss what she had been doing in school and in space camp, the latter the Gems were quite interested in, and Steven was happy to announce that the damage the bio-poison had done was officially cleaned up entirely. This was met with many cheers and smiling faces; he had been so busy lately that he hadn’t really had time to relax, so more time spent together was a blessing.

At one point, Steven could have sworn he heard the chime of the warp pad, but when he turned back to the glass dome, it was stagnant. He watched the entrance for a little while, but no one came out, so he deemed it as him seeing things and paid no mind to it.

Within half an hour, all three pizzas had completely vanished, dominated mostly by Steven and Amethyst, and they all took seats along the shoreline. The sun was starting to dip down towards the horizon, the sky now tinged with pretty yellows and oranges. 

“I never get tired of watching the sunset,” Steven remarked, closing his eyes as the sun warmed his face. There was a soft murmur of agreement around him, nearly drowned out by the sound of the waves gently rolling.

As much as he had moved on from his perfect “happily ever after” mentality, that didn’t mean he didn’t want to just lie around with his family and not worry about anything sometimes. And in this moment, with only the ocean to hear and nothing on his mind, he was in heaven.

Steven opened his eyes again and craned his neck back towards the direction of the cliff, eager to take in the sky in its entirety as it transitioned from day to night, when something caught his eye. The something was pink, too small to be Lion and too dark to be Lars, and was sitting on the edge of the cliff. He squinted, trying to make out anything recognizable; they were turned away from him, so he couldn’t see their face.

Then the figure shifted slightly, and Steven saw the pair of untamed magenta pigtails that waved limply in the breeze.

“...Spinel?” The name formed on his lips before he could stop himself, alerting the others lounging beside him.

“Huh?” Connie grunted, appearing to have been snapped out of a daze.

Steven barely registered his friend’s comment; a million questions were already forming in his head. What was Spinel doing here? Wasn’t she supposed to be with the Diamonds? There was no sign of their ship, so she must have come alone, but why? Did she need something?

Did something happen?

“Guys.” He pointed up the cliff to where the small gem sat. “Isn’t that Spinel?”

“Spinel?” Connie echoed, shielding her eyes from the sun in an attempt to see better.

Pearl’s eyes widened slightly in surprise. “That _is_ her.”

“What’s she doing here?” Amethyst voiced what they were all thinking.

Greg scratched his head, a little lost. “Spinel? Isn’t she the one who tried to destroy the Earth a while back?”

“Yeah, but...she went to stay with the Diamonds,” Steven explained. “I didn’t think she’d want to come back so soon, much less by herself.”

He stood up abruptly. “I’m gonna go talk to her. I’ll be right back.”

“Just be careful,” Pearl warned.

Steven gave her a thumbs-up and began making way around the cliff until the grassy side of the hill came into view. He rounded the crater that the injector caused (it was really just a small indentation in the earth now) and made it to the top after a few minutes. Sure enough, it was indeed Spinel that was sitting there, a little too close to the edge for his liking.

“...Spinel?” he called out cautiously, maintaining a safe distance in case she was aggressive. Although, now that he was getting a good look at her, he really didn’t need to. Her posture seemed almost...defeated, with the way she was curled in on herself, her arms wrapped around her knees multiple times and her face hidden from view.

Steven received no answer, so he edged forward slowly, ready to stop when she asked. She still didn’t respond to his presence, even when he took a seat beside her and called her name again. Yep, she was ignoring him.

“What’s wrong?” he asked as gently as possible. He reached out a hand, but immediately pulled back when Spinel visibly flinched away. His brow furrowed in confusion; he didn’t know Spinel very well, but he knew that she wasn’t one to shy from physical contact. 

“It’s not that I’m not happy to see you,” he continued, trying to appease her. “It’s just...you seemed sad, so I was wondering if-”

“Sorry.” Spinel’s voice broke halfway through the word.

Steven’s eyes widened. “No no, you don’t have to apologize! I just…” He faltered for a moment, trying to figure out how to voice what he wanted to say, then gave up and decided to be upfront. “Did something happen?”

There was a brief pause before Spinel answered. “No.”

Steven didn’t believe that for a second. “You can tell me. Whatever’s going on, I can help you work through it.”

“I don’t wanna talk about it,” Spinel muttered bitterly.

Steven frowned. “Why not?”

“I just don’t, okay?” Spinel raised her head to snap at him, and Steven drew away at the sudden motion. Her eyes, even past all of her current frustration, were bloodshot and dull, as if any light behind them had been extinguished. She’d been crying. 

“Spinel…” Steven breathed, shocked. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I’m…” Spinel’s shoulders visibly slumped, shame crumpling her expression instantly. “I’m- I’m sorry, I-” She turned away from him and buried her face again. “Just leave me alone.”

Steven was torn. He wanted to comfort her, but it seemed like no matter what he said, it didn’t seem to help the situation. He was so used to being able to talk down anyone with just the right words, so he felt completely powerless here, when everything he said was either taken the wrong way or disregarded entirely. It wasn’t her fault, of course, but he felt awful knowing that he really had no way to help her.

Ultimately, the last thing he wanted was to make her feel even worse, so, with a heavy sigh, he pushed himself to his feet and gave her some space. He trudged past the lighthouse and was briefly surprised to see that the others were waiting for him, looking at him expectantly.

“She doesn’t want to talk about it,” Steven reported, a hand rubbing the back of his neck. “I know something’s wrong. The last time she was like this was when…” He shook away the memory of her drained, broken gaze as she collapsed into a pile of limbs among the withered bushes of the garden. He had managed to gain her trust back then, but now it seemed as though her defenses were twice as heavy.

Perhaps Spinel was still hung up on what had happened a few months ago, and that was why she didn’t want to talk to him. He had thought the awkwardness between them had diminished since then, but maybe it was different for her. If that was the case, there were other people here that she didn’t know, so maybe she would be less guarded around them.

“Maybe one of you can talk to her,” he suggested. “Garnet? Will that work?”

The tall fusion hummed to herself, adjusting her shades as she checked her future vision. “...There are many paths that split off from this point. It’s too difficult to tell which one we will take, but it’s worth a shot.”

It was better than nothing. “Ok, who wants to go first?” Steven asked.

“I can,” Connie offered, raising her hand. “I’m not a gem, so maybe she’ll warm up to me faster.”

The others agreed with that notion and sent Connie off. The teenager wrapped her sweater tighter around herself as she approached the edge and sat down next to Spinel, making sure to leave some distance between them. Steven remained hidden behind the lighthouse with everyone else, but pressed himself against the wall and edged as close as he dared, hoping to eavesdrop on the conversation.

“Hi,” Connie began awkwardly. “It’s Spinel, right?”

Steven just barely heard a “Yeah” in reply from the gem in question. She had at least recognized Connie’s presence, so that was a good sign.

“I’m Connie, I live here in Beach City, although I’m sure you already know that,” Connie said with a forced laugh, swinging her dangling legs. “I haven’t seen you around in a while.”

“I’m not here to try and destroy your planet again, if that’s what you’re trying to ask,” Spinel hissed, still not looking at the human in the eyes.

“I’m not,” Connie insisted with a smile. “I saw you leave with the Diamonds, so I was wondering if you were here to visit.”

“No.”

“Oh…” Connie faltered, and Steven silently willed that this conversation would turn a little less one-sided. “Are you okay?”

“What?”

“You seem down.”

“Why do you care?”

Connie blinked. “Why would I not?”

“Gee, I don’t know.” Spinel’s voice dripped with bitter sarcasm. “Maybe because I tried to kill you and destroy your planet? Last I checked, that’s when most people stop caring.”

“That’s all water under the bridge, Spinel.” Connie was starting to sound slightly desperate, mirroring Steven’s thoughts. Spinel was closing herself off further, and they both knew that.

“It shouldn’t be,” Spinel said. It sounded as though she was trying to convince herself this.

“But-”

“Please leave me alone.” The gem’s voice was strained. 

Connie paused, appearing just as emotionally conflicted as Steven had been a few minutes before. She too made the decision to bite her tongue and leave, retreating back to the lighthouse in defeat.

“Nothing?” Steven asked. He had listened to the entire conversation, but he wanted so desperately to hear that he had overheard incorrectly.

“Nothing,” Connie confirmed sadly.

“I’ll go talk to her,” Pearl announced. “One gem to another.”

As the minutes dragged by, however, it was clear that Spinel was unwilling to have any sort of interaction with anyone. Pearl tried to appeal to her feelings, stating that she wasn’t alone in her abandonment, but was shut down just as quickly as Steven and Connie had been. Having nothing more to say and too awkward to try and give comfort, the lithe gem returned empty-handed.

Amethyst came relatively the closest to getting Spinel to crack. She tried to make the other gem laugh by telling jokes and even pulling out her phone to show off a couple memes she had saved. Unfortunately, her efforts had fallen flat too.

Garnet remained stoic and calm as ever. She approached Spinel and crouched down beside her, whispering something Steven couldn’t hear. Spinel’s reply was short and abrupt, and soon Garnet, appearing rather disappointed in the answer, admitted defeat and drew away.

“She’s not telling us anything.” Steven put his head in his hands, groaning in frustration, not at Spinel but at himself. He wanted to help her, and they were no closer to figuring out what had happened. He wished he had taken more time to get to know Spinel so he wouldn’t have to probe for answers. “Ugh, nothing’s working!”

“Maybe we should just leave her be, Steven,” Connie said, although the look in her eye suggested the fact that she herself didn’t like the idea.

“But I don’t want to just leave her there,” Steven protested. “I want her to know that she doesn’t have to be alone anymore.”

“Well…” Garnet put her hands on her hips. “There’s one person who hasn’t approached her yet.”

Everyone’s eyes instantly snapped over to Greg, who jumped at the sudden shift in attention over to him. “Wha- me?” he stammered. 

Steven grinned. His dad was relaxed and reassuring, something that he himself had taken comfort in while growing up. In fact, Greg had managed to make friends with Blue Diamond in the span of five minutes, so maybe, just maybe, Spinel could warm up to him. “C’mon, Dad; if there’s anyone that can help, it’s you.”

“You certainly won’t be any worse off than the rest of us,” Pearl remarked.

Greg rubbed the back of his neck. He still looked a little unsure, but the encouraging words seemed to have helped. “I guess I could try?”

“Yeah, you got this, Greg!” Amethyst cheered, thankfully remembering to keep her voice lowered so Spinel couldn’t hear them.

They waited around for a while before sending Greg out, just to give Spinel time to herself. Steven wouldn't have been surprised if he was more nervous than Greg was. He knew he didn’t have to deal with all the after-effects of his mother’s decisions, but he still felt obligated to want to help Spinel. Maybe it was because he felt bad for her, or because he resonated with her feelings of abandonment (although not to such an extent).

Greg’s long hair blew softly as he stepped out from the front of the lighthouse and made the trek they had all done prior. He didn’t look nervous anymore, Steven noticed. The boy couldn’t help but watch the interaction this time and just barely peeked out from around curved wall, the gems and Connie following suit.

“Hey.” Greg sat down beside her, looking her over a little. Steven saw his eyes soften as he took in her defensive posture.

Spinel visibly tensed. _“He_ didn’t send you, did he?”

“Who?”

_“Steven.”_

Steven felt a bead of sweat forming on his brow.

“Nope,” Greg lied smoothly. “Just figured you’d like some company up here.”

Surprisingly, the response seemed to have defused Spinel for the time being, and her hair fell from its spiked, alert form. “Sorry.” She sounded ashamed.

“Don’t be.” Greg smiled, warm and genuine. “Your name’s Spinel, right?”

“Mhm.” A magenta eye peeked up at him and scanned him warily. “...Is it Umgreg?”

Greg snorted a little. “Actually, it’s just Greg.”

“Oh.”

“Appreciate you remembering me, though.” Greg leaned back, bracing himself with his arms. “The sunset’s nice, isn’t it?”

Spinel raised her head a little more, gazing out towards the ocean. The sun had sunk towards the horizon now, and the sky had deepened into bright reds and oranges. “Yeah.”

“It’s one of the best nights to see it. No clouds, good temperature, and this is one of the best views you can get. Can’t go wrong.”

Pearl let out a slight huff. “This is taking longer than I thought,” she muttered a little impatiently, but was quickly shushed by Amethyst.

“It’s real pretty,” Spinel spoke up suddenly. Her voice didn’t portray anger or sadness or any noticeable emotion at all. “Homeworld’s sky is only one color all the time.”

“Bet it gets boring,” Greg remarked.

“Sometimes.” She turned to look at him rather curiously. “You’ve never been?”

“Space isn’t really my thing,” Greg chuckled. “Besides, a human like me wouldn’t really belong there.”

Spinel lowered her gaze, and Steven caught a flash of pain in her dull eyes as she huddled into herself once more, resting her chin on her knees. “I don’t either.”

Greg, ever the empath, visibly saddened at the comment as well. “You came up here to reflect, huh?”

Spinel nodded.

“A lot on your mind, I bet,” said Greg. When he smiled again, Steven recognized the care behind it from all the times his dad had helped him get back on his feet again. “It’s okay if you want to get anything off your chest.”

With a sudden guttural cry, Spinel’s hands reached up and began tugging violently at her pigtails, much to everyone’s horror. Pink strands fell around her as she ripped and clawed ferally at her hair. The distressed wails she made nearly sent Steven out of hiding; he managed to come to his senses and stay put, but the sounds still tugged painfully on his heartstrings.

Greg was quick to react, gently but firmly grabbing her hands and holding them in place to prevent Spinel from continuing. It wasn’t until he was met with no resistance when he carefully untangled her fingers and let go. Spinel didn’t try again, but she did resort to tearing at the grass as a sort of catharsis.

“I’m- I’m sorry,” she muttered, sounding almost panicked. “That was stupid, that was really stupid. I didn’t- I…”

Greg carefully placed a hand on her back and held it there, a small but reassuring form of comfort. “It’s okay, just take it easy. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“No, you didn’t. It’s just…” Spinel took a deep breath. “I want to talk about it, but at the same time I don’t, but not talking about it just makes me feel worse and worse and worse. It’s stupid.”

“That’s not stupid.” Greg’s voice was gentle. “It’s hard to face things like that: things that make us feel bad. Maybe it’s even terrifying. It’s perfectly normal to be afraid of it now, but there will be a point later on when you won’t be.”

“It sure doesn’t feel like it,” Spinel muttered.

“Well, what does it feel like?” Greg asked.

Spinel was silent for a moment, her head bowed and her fingers, having finished with their destruction of the grass around her, twisted in her lap. “...Empty. Like I’m broken.”

“No one’s broken forever.”

“But there’s so much wrong with me. I don’t know how to...how to help myself. I try and be better, but every time I always end up right where I started, except it’s worse because I know I’m not getting better.”

“No one expects you to recover all by yourself. It’s okay to ask for help.”

But Spinel shook her head. “No, I can’t. That’s...that’s bad. That hurts other people, I can’t-”

“Spinel.” The fuchsia gem timidly glanced up into Greg’s eyes, then appeared to relax slightly from the sheer empathy he showed towards her. As if it was enough to alleviate her worries even for a few seconds.

“I’m going to make you an offer. If you’re not ready to accept it just yet, I’m not going to force you to, but I want you to know that it’ll always be up in the air if you ever need it.

“If you want to, you can crash with me for a little while. It can be for as long as you want: a couple weeks, a few months, it doesn’t matter to me. What matters to me is that, whenever you’re ready, I’ll be here to help you.”

Spinel’s eyes widened. “Why would...but, I’m awful; I’m unstable and I’m all messed up and I’m just going to freak out like I always do.”

“And that’s okay. We can work on that together.”

Spinel opened and closed her mouth multiple times, for once unable to form any more arguments. It was clear that, even beyond her doubtful exterior, she was considering it.

“Just know that I’m not leaving you out here all alone without anywhere to go, no matter what you decide.” Greg stood up and silently offered his hand down to her, his smile refusing to waver in the slightest.

Steven had been in complete shock throughout the entire conversation. Not only had Greg managed to get Spinel to talk to him, but also spill some of the feelings that were sure to be overwhelming her. He was still left in the dark as to why she was here, but at that point he didn’t really care anymore; if Spinel accepted, she was going to be in great hands, and maybe she would be able to recover.

Spinel stared at the outstretched hand, a million emotions flashing in her eyes. She fumbled with her own hands, clasping them to her gem. Her teeth chewed on her bottom lip. She was hesitant, but she was weighing her options. The air was still.

Finally, with a soft sigh, she reached out and accepted the gesture, allowing Greg to gently pull her to her feet and lead her away from the edge.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Greg realizes he’s dealing with a very shy ba b e y.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ackkkkk, sorry this took so long DX School’s been nuts so I had to focus on that, plus with SU Future coming out I had to take a lot of time to freak out over that lmao
> 
> I promise the next chapter won’t take this long TuT

Greg wiped tiny beads of sweat forming on his brow as he shoved the air mattress into the back of the van, laying it flat on the padded floor. It was the same single-sized mattress that Steven had used back in the day, but fortunately it still seemed to be in good condition. He then reached into a small laundry basket and pulled out a couple of bedsheets to begin smoothing them out. As he did so, he snuck a glance at the little gem behind him, who was watching from a slight distance.

“I know gems don’t really need to sleep,” he began, “but sometimes it might be nice to take a load off. I know Amethyst likes to do it.”

Spinel blinked, and Greg could tell that everything he said had gone straight over her head. “I guess you’ve never slept before, huh?” He considered teaching her how, but he also knew that she was probably overwhelmed. He didn’t want to overload her, much less so soon.

“I’ll show you how sometime, if you want,” he offered with a smile. He climbed into the back of the van and started to pull the sheets over the mattress, struggling slightly to find the longer side.

Spinel tilted her head in confusion, but agreed. “Uh, okay...”

Silence filled the air as Greg continued to make the bed, finally succeeding in tucking in the sheets. He threw on a couple of pillows and extra blankets and stepped back. “Alright, all set for ya.”

Spinel’s expression suddenly shifted from neutral to wary. Her twin pigtails were perked upright like a startled rabbit’s ears as she carefully edged towards the van, fumbling with her fingers in uncertainty. Greg sat on the floor and scooted away as she climbed inside, giving her space to look around.

She was tense. Really tense. Greg could see it in how stiff her movements were, as if she was forcing her limbs to cooperate, and the way she peered around as if she was expecting something to spring out and attack her. Sometimes her eyes would dart towards the door, making sure she still had an escape route. She didn’t feel safe, and it saddened him, but he didn’t dare move from his spot. 

“It’s not much,” Greg spoke up, keeping his voice low and calm, “but this ol’ thing has been about as reliable as any house could get. I hope it can be for you, too.”

Spinel edged towards the front seat and looked over the buttons on the dashboard. Greg watched her reach out to press one experimentally, but she drew back as if her hand had been suddenly slapped away.

“So, it’s like...a place to live in _and_ travel in...at the same time?” she asked, turning away from the buttons to gaze at him with uncertainty.

Greg nodded in affirmation. “You got it.”

Spinel hummed to herself and approached one of Steven’s old Dogcopter posters that was still plastered to the wall. As she studied it with mild interest, Greg suddenly felt a new presence behind him. Cat Steven had apparently noticed the commotion and had come to investigate the new arrival for herself. She hopped into the van and, before Greg could stop her, strode casually towards Spinel with her tail raised in greeting.

Spinel didn’t notice Cat Steven approach until the feline pawed curiously at one of her pointed boots. The gem immediately leapt away with a startled shriek, pressing herself against the wall of the van like a cornered mouse in an attempt to get away. Her eyes were large with terror as the cat continued to inspect her curiously. In any other situation it would have been almost comical for her to be cowering from something so small, but he noticed there was genuine fear in her expression.

“Woah there.” Greg sprang to Spinel’s rescue, grabbing Cat Steven before she could get any closer. “Looks like we’ve got a visitor.”

Spinel’s eyes were trained on Cat Steven, visibly stressed. “What is that?”

“A cat.” Greg ruffled Cat Steven’s fur affectionately. “She won’t hurt you, don’t worry. She was just curious.”

Spinel carefully removed herself from the wall. Now that she was a tad more relaxed, embarrassment started to shine through. “What does it do?”

“Well, uh…” Greg was a little confused at the question, but then remembered that she was from Homeworld. There, everything had to have a purpose or function- at least, that’s what he had gathered from his talks with Rose- so it was easier for them to understand various things on Earth by learning about such a thing. “She’s a pet. We keep them for companionship.”

“Oh.”

Greg held out Cat Steven in offering. “Do you want to pet her?”

One of Spinel’s pigtails twitched. “Huh?”

“Here, like this.” Greg demonstrated by smoothing out the feline’s fur in long strokes, causing her to mewl in contentment. “It shows affection. Y’know, like a hug does to us.”

Spinel still looked unsure, and Greg saw something dark flicker in her eye. “Would she...want me to?” she asked meekly.

“I don’t see why not.” Greg held up Cat Steven again, doing his best in letting her natural cuteness show. “C’mon, you know you can’t resist that face.”

Spinel pursed her lips, clearly taken by Cat Steven despite her best efforts. She carefully edged closer, her boots shuffling along the carpet in tiny movements. Greg did his best to hold the cat still as the fuschia gem inched her hand forward, a little unnerved from being stared down by a single blue eye. Once Spinel made contact with the soft calico fur, however, she melted instantly.

“She’s...soft,” she stated, copying the petting motion as she looked on in awe.

“Not bad, right?” Greg chuckled as Cat Steven leaned into Spinel’s hand, purring. “Look, she likes you.”

Spinel appeared to gain a tad more confidence from this and started petting with her other hand as well. As she fawned over the cat, a tiny but genuine smile graced her features. It was the first smile Greg had seen from her since she’d arrived, and the first time something other than fear or distress was visible on her face.

Cat Steven was left to her own devices after a little while, and, after a quick check of the time, Greg decided to head off to bed for the evening. He turned to Spinel, who was sitting on the air mattress and bouncing on it experimentally.

“Alright, kiddo, I’m gonna go to bed and leave you to get settled. I bet you’ve had a long day.” It was most likely true, and Greg figured she would need some space after everything that had happened lately.

He certainly didn’t expect Spinel’s expression to shift so quickly and so...dramatically at such a casual announcement. The gem immediately sprang to her feet, and the amount of _terror_ in her eyes was enough to briefly take him aback. “Wh- what? Are you leaving? Where are you going?!” she asked, her voice becoming shriller with each word.

Greg hastened to keep her from full-on panicking and held out his hands in a placating gesture. “I’ll just be in the front seat, don’t worry.” He stepped over to the driver’s seat and patted it. “See? Right here.”

Spinel hardly seemed comforted by this, but she did stop the stream of anxious protests. She craned her neck to peer around him at the seat, scanning it intensely. As if she was purposefully searching for a catch, a trick, something that would give away even the faintest hint that he was lying to her.

“Right there?” she asked for confirmation.

“Right there,” Greg said, internally relieved as Spinel seemed to be okay with the answer. She wasn’t completely relaxed- not by a long shot- but at least she wasn’t getting any worse. “Do you need anything?”

Spinel shifted her weight from foot to foot, avoiding his gaze. Her posture reminded him of a child who had just gotten a scolding. “No.”

Clearly there was something still bothering her, but Greg ultimately decided not to push her. He left one of the van doors open so it wouldn’t get too stuffy before clambering into the front seat. Secretly, he had planned on taking refuge in the car wash building for the night to give Spinel some space, but he didn’t mind staying here if it meant she would feel more comfortable.

“Feel free to wake me up if you need anything, okay?” When Greg received a nod in response, he reached up and turned off the overhead lights, plunging the van into darkness.

\---

Greg hadn’t been awakened in the middle of the night by a panicking figure, so he took that as a good sign. It wasn’t until the sun had fully risen when he sat up and stretched, popping his back. Sleeping in was always nice, but he figured that he might as well get up; the car wash still had to be run, after all. Besides, he didn’t really want to leave Spinel by herself any more than he had to.

Spinel reacted similarly to yesterday upon hearing that he had to go to work, and it had taken Greg nearly five minutes to reassure her that he was going to work just outside and wasn’t leaving her. As a compromise, he left the back doors wide open so she could see him (seeing as she had no intentions of leaving the van).

Okay, so being alone was definitely a sore spot for Spinel, for one reason or another. Now that Greg pondered it, he actually didn’t know much about this gem. All he had gotten regarding her backstory was a “Mom left her on a garden in space” from Steven a while back. There had been no word on how long or how it had occurred in the first place, but apparently it had been enough to have an effect on Spinel.

He cast a quick glance at the gem still inside the van. She was pacing back and forth while watching him like a hawk, her hands sometimes reaching up to pull weakly at her face. It was a far cry from the rejuvenated, happy Spinel that had latched onto Steven or even the crazed, bloodthirsty Spinel he had watched from afar. In the twelve hours he had been around her, she had been nothing but tense. Even now, she kept a watchful eye on him as he worked, just waiting for the moment he would step out of sight and confirm all the horrible thoughts that were probably running through her head.

Poor thing.

Greg attempted to coax Spinel out of the vehicle several times throughout the day, hoping that it would make her less nervous about her surroundings. She seemed pretty adamant on staying inside, however; the very few times she had been tempted, a car would pull up or someone would pass by and she would shrink back into hiding. It was like trying to pull a newly-adopted cat out from under the bed, and eventually he gave up for her sake.

They did end up conversing for a while, however. The majority of their conversations were nothing of much substance: mainly Spinel asking what things were and Greg explaining to the best of his ability. Occasionally, Greg tried to ask about Homeworld and what she did there, but Spinel wasn’t quite as eager to respond. She seemed ashamed of it, too, curling in on herself whenever she meekly rejected his questions. It was all he could do to tell her it was okay if she didn’t feel comfortable talking about it, even though his words clearly went in one ear and out the other.

That night, Greg decided that his guitar had been neglected for too long. He sat down on the floor and began fiddling with the strings, tuning it to his liking before warming up with a short melody.

Upon hearing the first chord, Spinel’s head perked up with sudden interest. She leaned over slightly, the faintest glint of curiosity sparkling in her eyes.

“What’s that?” she blurted out, pointing to the instrument.

“Oh, this? It’s a guitar.” It only occurred to Greg now that she had probably never seen one before. He held it up so that she could study the polished wooden face. “It’s for playing music.”

“It is?” Spinel cocked her head, looking skeptical.

“Mhm.” Greg rested the guitar on his lap again. “You pluck the strings in different patterns to play notes.” He demonstrated by restarting the short tune he had played before, breezing through the notes with ease. He pretended not to notice Spinel sliding off the mattress and cautiously crawling towards him, not wanting to scare her.

Spinel watched in fascination as he finished the song with a flourish. There was a brief moment in which she reached forward to touch one of the strings, but quickly stopped herself. “How many songs do ya know?” she asked, fiddling with her hands.

“Well, I’m afraid I don’t know any Gem songs, but I do have a couple of classic human tunes up here still if you want to hear them.” Greg tapped the side of his head in emphasis, smiling when she nodded.

He played well into the evening, hopping between as many genres and styles as he could manage. The whole time, Spinel was completely captivated by the music and the way it echoed from the instrument, something that was probably like magic to her. She seemed more akin to faster tempos, and Greg will admit that he did get a _little_ carried away during “Little Lion Man”, just to witness her reaction to the way his fingers flew up and down the strings. And it was worth it, he reflected later, recalling her silent awe as she struggled to keep up.

Eventually, though, Greg’s hands started to cramp up and he had to retire for the night. He was quick to stifle the flash of fear in Spinel’s eyes, reassuring her that he was going to be in the same place as the night before. Although she took it better than she did the first time, all the excitement she had just minutes before suddenly drained out of her. She was shutting down again, and something sharp and painful dug deeply into his chest at the thought.

“You need anything?” Greg asked gently. There was a subtle desire in his tone for her to speak up because he know full-well that she needed...something. She had spilled a small amount of what had been on her mind the other day, but now that she was in an unfamiliar place with so many new things and staying with a near stranger, she was closing herself off again.

It was a while before Spinel shook her head. No dice.

With a quiet sigh, Greg retreated to the driver’s seat, oblivious to the half-second, longing reach for his hand before it was quickly pulled away, as if it had never happened.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spinel makes a friend.
> 
> (Mild TW for nyctophobia and self-harm)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m back nerdssssss and this chapter thankfully didn’t take as long as the last one did lololol
> 
> Be prepared for a decent bit of angst this chapter lmao

Spinel hated the dark. Despite Greg sleeping mere feet from her, the fact that she couldn’t see him was more than enough to make her anxious. She would have no way of knowing if he left in the middle of the night, and that knowledge was uncomfortably familiar.

Worse, the darkness reminded her of some...unpleasant places. It pressed up against her form, nearly suffocating her, making her feel claustrophobic, yet loomed over her menacingly and made her feel so small at the same time. Sometimes, pale pink columns and dying flowers flashed in the corners of her vision, sending her on a downward spiral until she pinched herself back into reality. She wasn’t there, she wasn’t alone, but what if she _was,_ what if-

Spinel harshly bit down on her lip to suppress a soft whimper. Stop freaking out, just _stop it._ There was no reason for her to be getting so worked up over something this stupid. Besides, she didn’t want to interrupt Greg’s “sleeping”. What if he got mad at her? What if he got so mad that he sent her away forever-

_STOP._ Spinel’s shaking hands found their way into her hair and pulled until her scalp stung. It helped a little, at least, but she knew it was only temporary. The cycle would continue to loop over and over and over, chipping away at her psyche and leaving her mentally and physically drained.

It wasn’t until the sun barely started to peek above the horizon when her trembling started to cease. Now there was light, now she could see again, and a quick glance over towards the front of the van confirmed that the human had indeed stuck around. Relief turned her already-rubber limbs into jelly and she flopped back onto the mattress, exhausted and humiliated. It was fine, Greg was still there, she wasn’t alone.

Stars, she was pathetic.

Spinel wallowed in her thoughts until Greg sat up and stretched, much like the day before. She couldn’t find the energy to return the smile he gave her, but she was secretly glad to see him active again. She had figured out that lying still was a part of “sleeping”, but that didn’t make it any less...uncomfortable to think about.

“You okay?” 

Spinel flinched at the sudden question, the upper half of her body bolting upright. “Huh?”

Greg regarded her with mild concern. “You look kinda tired there.”

Spinel was tired of many, many things, but she wasn’t about to tell that to an unsuspecting human. She instead plastered on a forced grin, her fingers twisting into the fabric underneath her so she wouldn’t be tempted to pull her hair. “Oh yeah, I’m just gettin’ used to all this Earth stuff. Night cycles are crazy, y’know?”

Unfortunately, Spinel’s acting had lost its touch since she’d arrived on Earth. Greg’s dark eyes seemed to stare right through her lie and into her very being, causing her smile to drop instantly. Her legs tucked up towards her chest, instinctively hiding her gem from view. Oh stars, she was caught in a lie. What was he going to do to her?

To her astonishment, Greg smiled, a simple gesture that held no ill intentions despite Spinel trying to search for one. “Yeah, I bet there’s still a lot to take in. But hey, there’s no rush. We’re all about going at our own speed here.”

The look he gave her held meaning she couldn’t quite detect. “And, well, if there’s anything you need to talk about, feel free. I know we haven’t known each other for very long, but I’m here to help you if I can.” He curled his fist and pointed his thumb towards the ceiling in a human gesture Spinel didn’t understand, and she was too dumbfounded to do anything other than nod in response.

Spinel watched Greg prepare for work, eyes wide and owlish. She had blatantly lied to his face, and she hadn’t even been reprimanded for it. In fact, it had only been met with reassuring words. A sliver of her problems, even if temporary, had been washed away with kindness.

And it scared her. No, beyond that: it terrified her.

It was _terrifying,_ how kind Greg was, and to _her_ of all gems. It was so, so tempting to accept his offers and allow herself security, but Spinel knew that she couldn’t. Every past experience had started off the exact same way, with her supposed caretaker acting as if they wanted someone like her in their life, only to toss her away once they grew tired of her. This was no exception, despite a part of her desperately wanting to believe that it wasn’t a ruse.

Spinel’s head started to sting again from the force of her pulls as she tried to stifle said part of her. No, no, this was definitely a lie. She couldn’t let herself fall into the same trap for, what, the third time? Fourth? She couldn’t remember.

Spinel absolutely could _not_ get attached. No matter how lonely it was, no matter how much she knew she needed someone right now, allowing herself to get closer to Greg was a disaster waiting to happen. Sooner or later, she was going to mess something up or her constant problems would get annoying and he was going to send her away like she deserved. As long as she kept her distance, it would hurt a lot less in the end.

And Spinel knew it was going to hurt already, because after Greg, there was no one left.

She would only stay here for a little while, until she figured out what she was going to do next. The last thing she wanted was to burden the only person who at least pretended to care. She just...wasn’t ready to be alone yet.

Soon. She would leave everyone alone soon.

And then…

…

—

Human-watching was definitely not in Spinel’s top ten when it came to “exciting”, but she supposed it was better than certain...alternatives. At least humans were interesting- more than she had originally given them credit for, at least. No two were completely alike, even ones that traveled together or looked somewhat similar in appearance.

Spinel’s purpose, above all, was to entertain, and ensuring the maximum amount of enjoyment from her audience meant knowing what made them tick. What they were interested in, what they liked and disliked about the world or themselves, or the way they spoke to others: such things that she could use in her favor. It was easy to pick out the little quirks of a personality, even when she wasn’t trying. Some humans were louder, more exaggerated in their movements, while others seemed more subtle. Some smiled often, while others barely did so. Some laughed confidently, while others barely managed a chuckle.

Spinel thought it was kind of engaging, in a way, to try and guess what kind of people these humans were. Gems were becoming more open with their individual tastes, but at the end of the day each cut was the same across the board when it came to humor. All Amethysts liked lighthearted pranks, all Rubies enjoyed the more violent acts, and all Peridots appreciated clever wit above everything else. Gems were easy to please, but it got boring rather quickly. Spinel found challenges much more fun (relatively; not many things were fun anymore).

Most of the humans that approached were friendly with Greg, although some talked longer than others. One human in particular, who actually looked a bit like Greg, ranted on and on about something Spinel couldn’t quite hear for nearly half an hour. Nor did Spinel want to hear; instead she crawled further into the van and pretended not to feel the loneliness cut a thousand times deeper every time the two outside shared a laugh.

The sun had just passed its zenith when another human vehicle came to a stop next to the building. This one was a bright yellow, with strange red and gray shapes plastered all over it. Four humans clambered out of the seats and ran towards Greg, shouting and laughing. Greg responded with similar enthusiasm, ruffling the hair of the shortest human and giving the one with white hair a good-natured clap on the back.

Spinel cursed, feeling the familiar pang of jealousy prick her gem, distracting her from the conversation outside. She grabbed at her dangling pigtails, trying to squash the thoughts back down. No, no, this was for the better, this was for the better…

Sometimes, Spinel became so occupied with her thoughts that she ended up retreating into her head as she tried to fight them off. Which is probably why she didn’t notice one of the humans looking at her until he spoke up.

“‘Sup.”

Spinel barely stifled a yelp, her hair puffing out in alarm. Her gaze snapped up to meet the human’s, although it was rather difficult. He was wearing some sort of visor that covered his eyes and uncomfortably reminded her of the fusion Crystal Gem. His voice alerted Greg and the other humans, and soon all five pairs of eyes were staring her down. Something within her froze upon the sudden shift in attention.

The short human blinked, and for a moment Spinel thought she looked familiar. “Oh, hi! Didn’t see you at first.”

Spinel had no idea what to do. She tried to speak, to say anything, but her voice died in her throat every time she opened her mouth. Her limbs were stiff and unmoving from sudden nervousness, preventing her from bolting and hiding in the most secure place she could find. 

Thankfully, Greg noticed her discomfort and spoke up for her. “This is Spinel. She’s hanging out with me for a little while.” He gave her an innocent wave, and Spinel’s arm finally decided to cooperate enough to let her return it.

The human with black hair was kind enough to give her a toothy smile. “What’s up? I’m Jenny, and this is Sadie, Buck, and Sour Cream.” Strange golden circles dangled from her ears, shining whenever she turned her head.

Spinel swallowed hard. “Um, hi.”

The conversation luckily reverted away from her after that, saving her from any further embarrassment. Spinel’s fingers dug harshly into her arm, trying to contain her frustration. What was _that?!_ She used to be so good at socializing with even the snootiest of Aquamarines. Guess over six thousand years of complete isolation caused her to lose her touch.

Thinking about that was a mistake. She did _not_ want to spiral down that path right now. 

Spinel didn’t think she could possibly become any more of a mess, but alas, she was once again proven wrong. Shortly after the humans left, another small group came to visit. She recognized them instantly from the day she had first come to Earth, their vengeful stares boring into her even now.

Spinel pressed herself against the wall of the van, trying to be as inconspicuous as she could. Oh Stars, those were _Crystal Gems._ She was so dead; they were bound to remember her and all the horrible things she did. Did they know she was here? Was that why they had stopped by; they had heard she was here and had come to take her away? Spinel prayed that that wasn’t the case. As much as she knew no one wanted her around, there was nowhere left for her to go.

Spinel remained somewhat hidden, listening to the drone of four different voices go on and on just feet away and wishing they would leave soon. Sometimes she could see a flash of green as the Peridot scrambled around, or the Bismuth’s rainbow locks bounce on her broad shoulders as she laughed. It seemed as though Greg hadn’t told the gems of her location. Not yet, at least. Spinel wondered if this was all some elaborate ploy to whittle down her defenses until they struck.

A flash of blue temporarily distracted her as a slender figure touched down in front of the van, their wings glittering in the sunlight. “Hey.”

Spinel froze. Lapis Lazulis on Homeworld were fairly laid back, but one wrong word could cause them to unleash a whole other level of fury. This one didn’t seem ready to shatter on sight, but Spinel didn’t trust it for a second. She clenched her fists, ready to defend herself if necessary.

The Lapis saw the subtle gesture and raised an eyebrow. “If I came here to pick a fight, you’d be poofed by now.”

Spinel was rather taken aback at the amount of calm confidence in the statement. She relaxed her fists, averting her eyes. “What do ya want?” she muttered, a little harsher than intended.

The Lapis seemed unoffended, however, and instead made herself at home. Her wings retreated back into her gem and she sat on the edge of the van, crossing one leg over the other. “Steven told us you came back to Earth.”

Spinel bristled. Of course, Steven had probably alerted every single gem in the area about her presence. “And now you’re gonna put me away somewhere, yeah?”

“Nah, we just wanted to stop by and see for ourselves. Well, I did. The other two got distracted.” Lapis leaned back on her hands. “So, how are you liking it so far?”

“What?”

“Earth.”

Spinel shrugged. “Haven’t seen much of it.”

“You should look around. Organic life doesn’t sound all that great, but there really are some amazing things on this planet. Have you seen the ocean yet?”

Spinel had seen the ocean before, but it had been stained pink at the time, tainted by her biopoison. That probably didn’t count. “No.”

“It’s better in the fall, I think. Less people around.”

Spinel abruptly straightened her posture and stared at the blue gem in the eye. “Why are you being so nice to me?”

Lapis blinked. “What do you mean?”

“What do you mean ‘what do I mean’?!” Spinel’s hand reach up towards her gem without a second thought and clutched it. Everyone had been so sickeningly nice to her and it was terrifying. She was tired of waiting for the moment they would turn on her like she knew they would. “Don’t you remember what I did? Why aren’t you mad?”

Lapis exhaled slowly, as if deep in thought, her eyes shifting to stare out in front of her. She straightened her legs, rolling out her ankles until her golden sandals were sitting in the sun. 

“I was mad at first,” she admitted. “Even though this planet’s only been my home for a few years, I still get angry when anyone tries to hurt it. But, then Steven told us why you lashed out and how you regret trying to destroy everything, and I realized that it would be...wrong of me to hold a grudge when you clearly felt bad about doing it.”

“Wait, so…” Spinel furrowed her brow, trying to understand Lapis’s train of thought. “You were mad at me, but then you just...got over it?”

Lapis shrugged as if it were obvious. “Pretty much.”

Spinel sat dumbfounded, unable to physically wrap her head around the answer. What she had done was unforgivable! Lapis _had_ to be lying to her. “I...don’t get it.”

“Well, for starters, I would say you weren’t completely unjustified in your actions. I probably would have done something similar.” Lapis let out a snort at Spinel’s appalled expression. “Don’t tell Steven I said that; he’s been trying to keep me in check with that stuff.

“But, that’s just it, you know?” Lapis lay down on the floor of the van, using her arms as a pillow. “I forgive you because I’ve _been_ you. I’ve done a lot of bad things, arguably even worse than what you did, and Steven and Peridot and everyone else still accepted me with open arms. It made me realize that...everyone deserves kindness, even crazy gems like us.”

Spinel let out a sharp breath of air that almost sounded like a laugh. “Worse than what I did, huh?”

Lapis smirked, although there was a touch of bitterness to it. “Stole Earth’s ocean, trapped another gem in a fusion, uprooted mine and Peridot’s home for my own wants, to name a few.” She counted the laundry list off on her fingers.

“That’s a lot,” Spinel remarked, not quite sure what to say. 

“Yeah.” Lapis turned onto her side to face Spinel. “There were a lot of times when I felt like I didn’t deserve forgiveness. Even now, I still have those moments. So, I get what you’re going through. And I know you think I’m lying to you, but I did mean what I said earlier about everyone deserving to be forgiven.”

The poisonous thoughts in Spinel’s head didn’t let her believe Lapis for a second. But, Spinel was grateful for the blue gem taking the time to make her feel better, no matter how false it sounded. “Thanks,” she said in a monotone, resting her head on her knees.

“Here.” Lapis suddenly sat up, scooting further into the van. “If you feel comfortable, I want to make a pact with you.”

The word “pact” alone was enough to make Spinel nervous. “What do ya mean?”

“Healing was a lot easier for me when I had Peridot and Bismuth to rant to,” Lapis explained. “We can be that person for each other.”

“Why would-?” Spinel stopped herself before she could finish her question. It was fruitless to ask why Lapis was so willing to help her; she would never understand why. “How would that work?”

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m not exactly the best gem to turn to if you want to feel better about yourself. But, I do understand all of the frustration and pain that comes with healing.” Lapis smiled a little. “When life gets to be too much and you don’t want to deal with all of that heartfelt stuff, we can scream out all of our angst towards the skies. It’s...more cathartic than you think.”

It did sound sort of nice, but Spinel had her doubts. “I dunno, I’m sure you’d rather have time to yourself for all of that.”

“Trust me, after being trapped in a mirror for five thousand years, the last thing I need is time to myself.” Lapis hardly gave Spinel time to process what she had said before she launched right into the next subject. “I’ve actually got something I’ve been wanting to get off my chest, if you want to hear. It’s not completely depressing, I promise.”

“Sure.” Despite still reeling from the mirror comment, Spinel found herself genuinely curious.

Lapis sat up, her bangs slightly messy. “That whole ‘forced fusion’ disaster really messed with my head, and it took a while before I could even stand to be near anyone other than Steven. Just the idea of fusing again terrified me.”

Spinel’s pigtails fell. Standing in a garden was nothing compared to that. “Oh, that...sounds awful. I’m sorry.”

Lapis waved her hand dismissively. “Don’t be. I’ve recovered from it for the most part, but recently I realized that...I want to try it again. I’m ready for it, and I feel like it’ll help me trust myself more.”

Her grin became even wider, if possible, and she leaned closer to Spinel so that her voice could drop to a whisper. “I want to ask Peridot to fuse with me.”

“Woah.” The magenta gem’s eyes grew large. “You aren’t scared?”

“Oh, I’m _really_ scared,” Lapis admitted with a laugh. “But I know by now that that’s just the irrational thoughts in my head talking. If she says no, then at least I know I have the confidence to ask, and if she says yes, then...well, I’m a better gem than I was three years ago.”

Spinel was in awe at the water gem’s strength. Fusion had the potential to be such an intimate and sacred thing, and for Lapis to not only recover from an awful experience but also have the courage to try it again was amazing. Spinel knew she would have never been able to do that if she was in the same situation.

“I figured you’d wanna fuse with Steven before anyone else,” Spinel commented.

“Steven will always be one of my best friends, but Peridot...she’s dealt with me and all my problems even more than he has. And I feel like ever since I’ve become a healthier person, we’ve gotten a lot closer.”

Spinel glanced outside the van, watching Peridot wave her hands wildly while explaining something to Greg and Bismuth, who looked both stumped and amused. She could hear the green gem easily, but the words she was using were much too complex for her to understand. “She’s...loud.”

Lapis chuckled. “She’s a dork. But, I digress.” She turned back to Spinel, pressing her fingertips together. “I want to make you a deal. If I don’t quit at the last second and hide three galaxies over, I’ll tell you all about it. But, in return, I want to hear that you’ve been making progress too.”

“‘Progress’?” Spinel echoed.

“With healing,” Lapis clarified. “Look, the process is different for everybody, so you’ll have to ask someone like Steven or Greg for help on that. But, part of the pact is keeping each other in check. If I hear that you’re not letting yourself get the help you need, I’m going to have to yell at you to get your act together.”

She winked. “And if I start slipping, you can yell at me all you want. It’ll give the shock back into reality that we’ll need if we ever get to that point.” She held out a fist invitingly. “So, what do you say?”

Spinel wasn’t sure if she liked the idea of being yelled at by anyone, much less a Lapis Lazuli, but she didn’t want to disappoint by saying no. She held out her fist as well, imitating the gesture without knowing what it was. “Uh, okay.”

“Boom.” Lapis lightly tapped her fist against Spinel’s, and there was something oddly sealing about it. “I think Peri’s finally wearing herself out, so we should probably head back to Little Homeworld soon.”

Despite her best efforts, Spinel was a little saddened at the prospect of Lapis leaving. As she watched the blue gem slide out of the van, a final question suddenly sprang to mind. “Uh, hey, wait a sec.”

When Lapis paused, Spinel lowered her voice while keeping a watchful eye on the group outside. “I’m probably just being stupid, but I just want a second opinion, I guess. Greg is...trustworthy, right?”

“Oh, definitely,” Lapis replied without a second thought. “Greg’s very nice, even for a human. I mean, I broke his leg and his boat and he still invites me to dinner all the time. Point being,” she hastened, noticing Spinel’s confused expression, “you’re in good hands. Take it from me.”

“Lapis!” Bismuth’s deep voice rang from across the pavement. Peridot, seemingly having exhausted herself, was thrown over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes. “I’m taking Peridot back!”

“Okay!” Lapis gave Spinel a quick peace sign. “I’ll see you around, and remember what we talked about.”

Spinel parroted the motion. “Good luck.”

“You too.”

Spinel watched Lapis take flight, still rather dumbfounded by the fact that she hadn’t been attacked on sight. On the contrary, she had been offered a place to vent, someone to help shove her back down the right path when necessary. She didn’t even know if she trusted it, although she was afraid either way.

Things were so much more difficult when people were nice to her.

Speaking of which. Her pink eyes slid down towards Greg, who was winding up a long rubber tube and whistling all the while. Lapis had all the reason not to trust him, or even anyone, yet it sounded as though she and him were decent friends. In fact, all three of the gems that had come to visit seemed to be on good terms with him.

Of course, they could all be in cahoots just waiting to get rid of her. That was probably true.

And yet, despite everything, it was so difficult for Spinel to reject kindness.

Spinel shook her head, sighing to herself. She had a lot to think about.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Turns out Spinel may have forgotten to take some things into consideration.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> O god o fuck this is late I’m so sorry sjfirjvjsjfj
> 
> It’s kinda long at least???? Idk
> 
> Some stuff happens in this chapter so that’s pretty cool, a bit of angst in the beginning too. Angst is always good :D
> 
> Comments are appreciated! :D

Spinel didn’t move from her spot the entire night. Normally she would have been terrified of even the idea of sitting still for so long, but she was too engrossed in her thoughts to care. Everything was so strange and confusing, and she just couldn’t wrap her head around any of it.

She had almost destroyed their planet. Everything the Crystal Gems loved, everything they had fought for, had almost been completely wiped away because of something she had _chosen_ to do. The thought kept Spinel up at night, constantly reminding her of how unforgivable she was.

And yet, they _had_ forgiven her. It hadn’t even been that long- only a few Earth months- and everyone was acting as though there had never been an endangerment to their homes or way of living. Lapis had even said that she _sympathized_ with Spinel’s train of thought...unless Lapis was just saying that. 

But, why would they lie to her? To lure her into a false sense of security, only to get rid of her in the cruelest way possible once her guard was lowered?

...Oh. That sounded right.

Greg had to work again in the morning, but he told her he was off on weekends so he could, in his words, “hang out” more tomorrow. Spinel wasn’t sure what that meant, but if it meant he could be close by, then she was okay with it. She didn’t like him being so out of reach while he worked, but she was still nervous about walking around as if she owned the place. Interacting with Lapis had turned out okay, but running into anyone else was still dangerous. Especially the Crystal Gems.

As usual, Greg woke up and quickly ran a brush through his hair before departing, although this time he gently patted her on the head as he passed by. The gesture was unexpected, and it took every ounce of Spinel’s willpower not to flinch away from it. He was outside in an instant, and she was left reeling from the sudden physical contact. 

She gently touched the spot on her head, almost still able to feel the contact. No one had done that in a long time.

She hated how anxious she got over the most trivial of things. A simple gesture like that was supposed to be nice; it was nothing to get so worked up about. She shook herself out, trying to get rid of her nervousness before shifting her position on the bed. Time for another day of human-watching, she supposed.

Spinel wondered what was going to happen tomorrow. If Greg wasn’t going to do his human work, then what was going to happen instead? Was he leaving? She hoped not, as awful as the thought was. 

The day went by smoothly for a while. Humans came and went, some of them Spinel had recalled from the past couple of days. Like before, they mainly stopped by to talk with Greg, and also like before, Spinel silently wished to join them but refused to allow herself to. Isolation sucked, but it wasn’t that bad. She could get used to it.

But then, the worst thing that could possibly happen...happened.

It was the afternoon. Spinel was trying to occupy herself when she heard a horrifyingly familiar voice call from somewhere nearby, making her nonexistent blood run cold. Her head shot up, and she immediately detected the unmistakable head of curly black hair approaching Greg.

Steven.

Spinel felt every part of her physical form tense up until she was practically paralyzed. Oh stars, what was he doing here? She didn’t want to face him, not after what she did. And she was sure he didn’t want to see her, either. There was a reason he had been so eager to send her off with the Diamonds. He didn’t want to see her again, not after what she did to his home. And now she was tainting his planet with her presence once again.

She felt the familiar icy fingers of panic start to grip painfully at her gem. Oh no, he was going to be so mad at her for staying here. He was going to send her away, far far away by herself as a punishment for latching back onto Earth like the worthless little parasite she was.

The world around Spinel darkened as every survival instinct she had suddenly kicked in. She had to run. She had to get out of here. She had to get out of here. She had to get out of here before he saw her-

She stood up on wobbly legs (oh stars, why did she feel so dizzy all of a sudden?) and stumbled out of the van. A quick glance over confirmed that she hadn’t drawn any attention to herself. Steven’s back was turned, and Greg was too focused on what he was saying to look over.

Holding onto the van door to keep her balance, Spinel twisted her legs into a spring and launched herself as quietly as she could. She soared halfway across the human city and bounced over the tops of buildings. She didn’t know where she was going; she just had to get as far away from Steven as she dared. She knew she was awful for running away from her guilt, but she couldn’t face him right now.

By the time her mind slowed down enough to process where she was, she was surrounded by lush greens and yellows. Large organic plants towered over her, their leaves constantly rustling and nearly blocking out the cerulean sky. The faint chitter of other Earth creatures could be faintly heard in the distance, but other than that it was quiet.

Spinel exhaled, feeling her panic starting to slowly ebb away. As far as she could remember, no one had noticed she was gone. It was okay, Steven hadn’t followed her. No one had followed her. She was-

Alone.

Spinel stiffened, the fear digging back into her in an instant. No one had followed her, sure, but now she was completely alone in a place that uncomfortably reminded her of the garden. She honestly couldn’t tell if this was worse than Steven catching her or not.

“Stupid, stupid, stupid!” Spinel growled in rage, punching herself in the head as she began to pace out of habit. Of course she was alone! What did she _think_ was going to come out of suddenly leaving without telling anybody? Why was she like this? Why hadn’t she just _calmed down_ and thought about what she was doing instead of acting out of turn like an idiot?

And now what? Spinel supposed she could sneak back before anyone noticed, but what if Steven was still there? What if she _had_ been noticed? Would they get mad at her for running off like that?

_You’ll be sent away anyway. You might as well do them a favor for once and do it for them._

Spinel stopped pacing. Her hands reached up to yank on her pigtails in an attempt to chase the thoughts away, but they always seemed to scream so much louder than any attempts to make herself feel better.

_They don’t want you here._

Spinel pulled harder, squeezing her eyes shut. “Stop, stop-”

_They don’t want you._

“Stop it…”

_No one wants you._

Spinel knew all her efforts to ignore the dark clouds fogging her mind were in vain.

_You’re so stupid, thinking that you could force yourself back into Steven’s life and be accepted into their little sunshine circle. Of course you wouldn’t be. Steven wants to be surrounded by friends, not by some defective gem who can’t even do the one thing she was made for._

No matter what, she always ended up believing them.

_Not by someone like you._

Soon, Spinel was completely engrossed in her thoughts, so much that she almost missed the sinister giggle that came from one of the nearby bushes.

\---

Steven was rather nervous about visiting his dad and Spinel today. As far as he knew, she was completely unaware that he had listened in on her conversation with Greg and knew that she was staying with him, so he wasn’t sure how she would react. Probably negatively, now that he thought about it.

He had intentionally stayed away from the northern side of town for a couple of days, recalling how cold she was towards him that evening on the cliff. He wanted to give her space for now, but he knew they both had to face the music at some point. They couldn’t avoid each other forever. 

Steven didn’t want to avoid her at all; at this point, all he wanted was to make sure she felt welcome on Earth. He hated not patching up his relationships with others, no matter how badly things turned out. The guilt of temporarily ending things with Spinel on a not-so-high note had been slowly eating him up inside ever since she left with the Diamonds. If she didn’t want to be full-on friends, that was fine by him, but he at least wanted to fix things.

“Hey, Schtu-ball!” Greg seemed as cheerful as ever, so that was a good sign. Steven waved as he came to a chipper stop on the carwash driveway.

“Hey, Dad!” The two exchanged pleasantries for a minute or two before Steven decided to dive right into the conversation, a somewhat serious expression forming on his face. “How’s Spinel doing?”

Greg gave him a small smile. “She’s doing okay. She just needs time to adjust, I think.”

Steven nodded in acceptance. That was pretty much what he was expecting. He lowered his voice, just in case the pink gem in question happened to be listening in. “I still don’t have a clue as to why she came back. Has she told you anything?”

His hopes dampened once Greg shook his head, a frown creasing his features. “Seems to me she doesn’t feel comfortable talking about Homeworld much at all, so I don’t push.”

Steven furrowed his brow. He briefly wondered if he should contact the Diamonds about the situation once he got back home. Honestly, he was a little surprised he hadn’t heard from them already. He figured they would be frantically trying to call him, panicking over their missing playmate. 

But, for now, there were more pressing matters to attend to. “Can I talk to her?” he asked tentatively. “It’s not gonna be an interrogation; I just want to try and get rid of any bad blood between us, especially if she’s going to be staying here for a while.”

“Yeah, sure. She’s right…” Greg’s voice trailed off as his gaze sidled over towards the van. His eyes clouded in confusion. “...here?”

Steven looked over. The back of the van was open, and he could see evidence that someone had been using the small air mattress inside, but Spinel herself was strangely absent. “Huh? Where’d she go?”

Greg approached the van and circled it, as if to anticipate Spinel hiding behind it. He had no such luck. “Maybe she went off exploring?” he suggested, scratching the back of his neck. The former rockstar was trying to sound casual, but his antsy posture gave away his growing uneasiness. 

“Uh...she probably saw me coming and she’s hiding somewhere nearby.” Steven shoved down his own nervousness and approached the car wash building, peering in through the windows. Spinel was rather unfamiliar with Earth; surely she couldn’t have gotten far, right?

Apparently she could have, Steven learned. He and his dad searched the area for a good fifteen minutes, but it seemed as though Spinel had disappeared off the face of the Earth. They had even asked a couple of passersby if they had just happened to spot a magenta gem wandering around, but no luck.

If Steven wasn’t worried before, then he definitely was now. He racked his brain, trying to think of anywhere Spinel could have gone. The warp pad came to mind; maybe she went back to Homeworld. At this point, Steven was hoping that was the case and that she hadn’t been abducted or gotten lost somewhere.

“She just...disappeared.” The boy ran a hand through his hair and faced his dad. “Has she left the van at all before now?”

Greg shook his head. “Not once.”

“Okay, uh…” Steven tried his best to come up with a plan. “I’ll ask the Diamonds. Maybe she just went back to-”

“Steven.”

Said boy in question turned his head towards the voice. He blinked in surprise as Garnet came barreling towards them, her visors reflecting the afternoon glare. “Oh, hey Garnet.”

Garnet’s gauntlets were on. “Steven, we need to get to the forest immediately.”

Steven faltered. “Why, what’s wrong?”

“It’s Spinel.” Garnet adjusted her shades, grimacing. “If my predictions are correct, she’s about to be attacked.”

“What?!” Steven exclaimed. “By who?!”

“I’ll explain on the way. Greg, can we use your van? We need to get there quickly.”

Greg, who looked both confused and unnerved by the exchange, suddenly jolted as his name was called. “Uh, s-sure?”

They made haste and piled into the van as fast as they could. Steven hopped into the passenger seat and Garnet clambered into the back, just barely getting situated before Greg turned the engine key. Greg’s driving was as smooth as ever, but there was noticeable tension in the way he gripped the steering wheel.

“What’s going on?” Steven blurted out as soon as they pulled out onto the road.

“It’s Aquamarine,” Garnet replied.

Steven furrowed his brow. “What?! What’s she doing back here?”

“Who’s that?” Greg asked.

“She was the one who tried to kidnap you and all of my human friends to put in the Zoo. Remember, when I kind of...let her take me to Homeworld?” Steven explained, cringing at the last phrase. It was still a sensitive subject sometimes.

Greg’s eyes remained on the road as he drove as fast as the speed limit allowed. “The little blue one with the wand?”

“Yeah, her.” Steven craned his neck back to face Garnet. “Why’s she here?”

“I..can’t tell,” Garnet admitted. “But I’m positive it’s nothing good. All futures point towards Spinel being attacked, for one reason or another.”

Steven gripped the seatbelt strapped across his chest. Aquamarine lacked size, but he knew from experience that her wand made her a force to be reckoned with. He just hoped they would arrive before anything horrible happened.

They reached the woods in record time, and Greg slowed down before carefully maneuvering the van through the trees. Steven rolled down the window and stuck his head out, scanning the shrubbery for any hints of pink or blue. At one point, he got spooked by a passing bird and summoned his shield on instinct.

“Where are they supposed to be, Garnet?” he asked.

Garnet placed her chin in one hand. “If I’m right, they should be right around…”

She was interrupted by a series of loud snaps and crashes as a magenta blur suddenly shot in front of the windshield, causing Greg to slam on the brakes with a yelp. Spinel came to an abrupt halt when she slammed headfirst into a rather stubborn tree, the impact causing a mass of leaves to fall to the ground. Spinel thankfully shook it off without a problem and leaped back out of view with a battlecry, arms stretched out to three times their length.

“There they are,” Garnet observed.

Steven didn’t even wait for Greg to turn off the engine before he jumped out of the van, his shield up and ready to go. He rounded the vehicle and came face-to-face with a rather destructive scuffle, one that had caused noticeable damage to the flora surrounding the two battling gems. Spinel was weaving through the trees, dodging blasts of bright blue energy with ease while simultaneously trying to strike at the small blue gem hovering before her. 

Steven recognized Spinel’s attacker immediately. He clenched his fists and quickly advanced towards the fight, intent on answers. _“Aquamarine!”_

Both gems froze in place and whipped around to face him. Spinel looked as though she had just been caught with her hand in the cookie jar, while Aquamarine seemed to be positively delighted at the sight of him. She let out an unnerving giggle, her lips curled into a cruel grin. 

“Well, isn’t this just _perfect?”_ With a flick of her wand, Steven suddenly felt all of his limbs freeze up as he was engulfed in a cerulean glow. Unable to move, he instead resorted to glaring as harshly as he could muster.

Garnet joined the fray, thankfully, and hurled a punch at Aquamarine, sending her flying through the air before she could stop it. The fairy-like gem quickly recovered and raised her wand again, but not before Spinel grabbed her with both hands and threw her further backwards in an act of revenge. 

“Urgh-” Aquamarine shook the dust off of her skirt before lunging for Spinel. Steven was quick to react, throwing his shield like a Frisbee. It struck her face and she let out a yell, nearly dropping her wand, before sneering in his direction.

To his credit, Steven was able to dodge three bolts of energy before he got caught. He felt himself get hurled off to the side before being let go, and he skidded across the dirt for a good fifteen feet before stopping just beside the van.

“Steven!” Greg cried, moving to step out from his hiding spot behind the van.

Steven threw out an arm to stop his father from getting too close to the warzone. “I’m okay, I'm okay. Get back, I don’t want her-”

He suddenly felt the now-familiar sensation of being frozen in place, although this time there was no one available to help. Garnet and Spinel had both been incapacitated by Aquamarine’s wand as well. The fusion was standing on the other side of the clearing, while Spinel had been caught mid-pose, one of her arms behind her with the intent to punch.

“That’s enough of _that,”_ Aquamarine remarked smugly, although she looked fairly tired herself. She floated over to Steven, smiling. “I have to say, I didn’t expect this to be so...easy.”

Steven hated that he wasn’t able to ask her what she was talking about.

Aquamarine giggled again, a sickly sweet noise. “What’s this now? Not going to say anything? How funny; I thought for sure you would ask me what I’m doing here. Oh well, guess that conversation is for another time.”

Oh, how Steven wanted to wipe that smirk off of her face.

“As much as I’d _love_ to give you all the details on the way back, I’ve come across a much better opportunity. We’ll deal with you later,” Aquamarine continued, waving him off dismissively.

Steven paused. “We”?

“As for you…” Aquamarine swung around to face Spinel, another laugh passing her lips. “How curious: a perfectly-cut, pink, trauma-scarred Spinel without a companion.” She tapped her chin with her wand, pretending to think. “Hmm, that sure sounds familiar. In fact, that exactly matches the description of the Diamonds’ new pet Spinel that disappeared just a few days ago. Isn’t that funny?”

Steven saw Spinel’s pupils shrink.

Aquamarine cackled gleefully. “Ah, yes, now I remember! There’s quite the reward on your head, last I checked.” She leaned in close to Spinel’s face. “Did you _really_ think that they wouldn’t notice the only Spinel in the palace go missing? Honestly, I know you’re not exactly made for your intelligence, but surely you’re a little smarter than _that.”_

Steven would have furrowed his brow in growing confusion if he had the freedom to. So Spinel had definitely left Homeworld intentionally. But, why hadn’t she told the Diamonds where she was going? That...didn’t sound right.

Movement suddenly caught his eye, and he was just able to turn his head the tiniest bit. Greg met his gaze for a brief moment before he focused back on Aquamarine, slowly reaching into the van to grab something.

Aquamarine continued her rant. “Honestly, just look at you. You should be grateful the Diamonds even gave you a chance, and now you’ve decided to frolic around on this...rock?”

Steven’s eyes widened in realization as Greg pulled his guitar out of the van and held it by its neck like a baseball bat.

“I would _shatter_ another gem for such an honor, and you decide to throw it away like it’s..._nothing!_ I mean _really,_ disregarding all of your duties as a companion gem for this pathetic little planet. And during such a stressful period in the palace, too. I’d call it treason.”

Greg began to carefully inch towards the monologuing gem from behind, sweat trickling down his forehead. Steven silently cheered him on.

“I’d hold you accountable myself, but, well...I’m sure the Diamonds have an extra special punishment in mind for you once we return.” Aquamarine let out a chilling laugh, seeming to revel in the mortified expression on Spinel’s face.

Greg inched closer still, and he raised the guitar higher over his head. His hands trembled slightly.

Aquamarine let out a dreamy sigh. “Oh, I can’t wait to get that lovely reward in my hands. And the recognition, too. Maybe they’ll reform the elite Courts again, just for me! Doesn’t that sound just _marvelous?”_

She turned around in that moment, seemingly wanting to gloat in Steven’s face, and that’s when Greg decided to strike. 

Aquamarine didn’t even have time to react before she was suddenly hit full-force with the back of a guitar and launched through the air like a golf ball, eventually hitting a tree with a loud thud. Her wand flew out of her hands and landed in the grass, out of sight. Its power negated, the two gems and one hybrid caught in its ray were released and dropped unceremoniously to the ground.

Aquamarine shakily rose into the air, rubbing her head. Her eyes smoldered in rage, and Greg, suddenly having realized what he had just done, drew back in fear.

“You _stupid HUMAN!”_ All composure that Aquamarine had vanished and she charged at Greg with a feral scream. 

Steven raced forward, ready to protect his dad, but he didn’t even need to. Garnet snatched Aquamarine out of the air with both hands before she could even get close to Greg. The fusion squeezed with all her strength, and, with a poof of cerulean clouds, the teardrop gem fell to the grassy earth.

Before anything else, Steven kneeled down and grabbed the tiny gem, quickly encasing it in a bubble. He tapped the top, sending it off to the temple, and slumped in relief.

“Is everyone alright?” Garnet asked calmly.

“I think so.” Greg closely examined his guitar. Fortunately, there didn’t seem to be any damage done to it.

“That was great, Dad!” Steven exclaimed.

Greg smiled sheepishly. “Thanks, kiddo.” He patted his guitar. “In retrospect, I guess I could have used a stick instead.”

Steven’s faint laughter trailed off, noticing Spinel. The fuschia gem was still sitting on the ground, her pigtails drooping down her back. She looked horribly troubled, and Steven suddenly recalled all of the things Aquamarine had said to her.

“Hey, Spinel,” he spoke up, not liking the way she flinched at the sound of his voice. “Are you okay?”

Spinel refused to meet his gaze. “...’m fine.”

Steven frowned. There were a lot of things that Aquamarine had brought up that he wanted answers to. What had happened that led to Spinel leaving Homeworld? Even stranger, why didn’t she tell the Diamonds? Why did she feel the need to keep all of this a secret? It had been days; why had no one on either side told him about the situation before now?

But, he figured that now probably wasn’t a good time to be bombarding Spinel with questions. Steven watched Greg help her to her feet and give her a once-over to check for injuries. She seemed pretty shaken up but otherwise unharmed.

“It’s getting late. We should get back home before Pearl worries.” Garnet poofed away her gauntlets. “I’ll see you at home, Steven.”

“Yeah,” Steven agreed, only half-listening.

“...I’ll get the van started.” Greg patted Spinel on the head and headed for the vehicle, gingerly putting away his guitar. Seeing no reason to stick around, Steven stuffed his hands in his jacket pockets and started to head out of the woods.

“Steven?”

Steven jumped, hearing Spinel address him for the first time that day. He stopped and turned back. “Yeah?”

Spinel fiddled with her hands, pointedly staring at the ground. Why did she look so terrified? “...I know we’re not on the best of terms...and I-I know I caused a whole lotta trouble already, and-and I know that you’re probably really really mad at me for-“

“Spinel.” Steven interrupted her before she spiraled too much. He gave her a kind smile, one that could melt even the coldest of Quartz soldiers. “It’s okay. What do you need?”

Spinel swallowed hard. “I, uh...I just need a-a favor, if that’s...alright.”

“Yeah, of course. What is it?”

A pregnant pause. Then, Spinel’s hand came up and gripped her gem, visibly trembling. Her head raised to face him, and he was taken aback as to how afraid she looked.

“Steven, _please_ don’t tell the Diamonds I’m here. I’ll-I’ll do whatever you want. I’ll go to another human city, I’ll help you with anything, I...I’ll leave you and your friends alone and never talk to you again, just _please, please_ don’t tell them where I am. _Please.”_

She continued to ramble, and from the way she sounded Steven almost expected her to drop to her knees and start begging. It felt as though she was pleading for her life.

He stepped forward, although not enough to enter her personal bubble. “Spinel, it’s okay. I promise I won’t tell them.” He almost considered asking why, but now was clearly not the time. Not while she was emotionally compromised like this.

The pink gem looked ready to break down right then and there. “I- _thank you,_ thank you, I can...what-what do you want me to do?”

Steven blinked. “What? No, you don’t have to do anything.”

“Huh?”

Was she really still so...inexperienced with basic acts of kindness? “If you don’t feel comfortable telling the Diamonds where you are, then I won’t tell them. You don’t have to prove yourself or anything.”

Spinel looked dumbfounded. “...But…”

“Really, Spinel, I don’t mind. You can stay here as long as you want.”

The rumble of the van cut through the silence that followed, and Greg slid out. He regarded Spinel with a warm look that Steven could only describe as faintly paternal. “Ready to go there, kiddo?”

“Yeah…” Spinel bowed her head and meekly approached the van, her boots crushing the fallen leaves. It was so odd for Steven to see her so...subdued. 

“And Spinel?” When the pink gem turned back, he smiled. “I forgive you, you know, for all that stuff that happened with the injector. We all do.”

There was no reply.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spinel and Greg have a chat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
> 
> hope you enjoy! :D

Greg had offered to let Spinel sit in the front seat on the way back, but she refused. The back of the van was more familiar and, more importantly, she didn’t have to face him there. If anyone so much as looked at her, she would surely shrivel up and die on the spot. She curled up on the mattress with her pigtails dangling down the sides of her face, silently wishing they had the power to make her disappear. 

She could still feel her own disappointment in herself nearly burning straight through her physical form, stinging her eyes and forming a painful lump in her throat. She was so stupid, she was so, _so stupid._ She couldn’t keep her dumb emotions in check, and now everyone was mad at her for dragging them into danger. 

And what now? They were probably going to send her away, and as much as she didn’t want that deep down, she couldn’t blame them for it. Either they would drop her off somewhere desolate and far away, or they would give her back to the Diamonds. She honestly couldn’t tell which was worse.

Was she going to be punished?

Spinel felt the bottom of her stomach suddenly drop out from under her. Oh Stars, she didn’t even think about that. She was, wasn’t she? She _did_ step out of line, after all. They’d surely jump at the opportunity to get back at her for it: heck, maybe even for what she did to Earth not too long ago.

The van came to a stop. 

Spinel sat ramrod straight, hearing the sound of the front door open and then slam shut. Her breathing suddenly quickened without her meaning it to, the awfully-familiar feeling of her thoughts starting to run wild sinking in. This was all moving way too fast. He was coming, he was coming, why didn’t she think things through, why was she so stupid, _what was he going to do to her-_

The back of the van swung open without a warning, early evening sunlight pouring into the small space. Greg’s dark silhouette stood in the middle of the open doorway. His face was obscured by the glare of the sun, and suddenly his looming stance looked very menacing. This was it; Stars, this was it.

“Alright, I’ll be-”

“Am I in trouble?” Spinel suddenly blurted out. 

Greg shifted, and suddenly she could see his face again. Dark eyes scanned her in a confused manner. “Huh?”

Spinel’s shaking hands twisted into the fabric beneath her. She didn’t know if she was physically able to ask again, but she didn’t want to get into more trouble than she already was. “I-” Her throat felt like it was being strangled, but she forced her trembling voice to work. “Am I...am I going to be punished?”

Greg blinked, his brow still furrowed. “Why would you be?”

Spinel thought she was going to pass out. She didn’t want to explain it, she just wanted to get it over with. “S-since I...ran off like that, without telling anyone.”

There was a pause, and Spinel could practically see the gears turning in Greg’s head. She bit down hard on her tongue, already preparing a laundry list of apologies to spill once it was over. As long as it wasn’t too bad, she would be okay. She would be...okay…

Greg looked at her for a short while, his expression unreadable, before it melted into the same gentle smile that was always directed at her for some strange reason. “...No, you won’t be. You’re not in trouble.”

_...What?_

“What?” Spinel asked awkwardly, not quite sure if she heard that right.

“No punishments here,” Greg said simply.

“But-” Spinel spluttered for a few seconds, too dumbfounded to form proper sentences. He was joking, surely. “Why not?”

Her eyes were trained warily on Greg as he sat down on the edge of the van. She didn’t trust this; she _couldn’t_ trust this. Every photon in her form was screaming in alarm, telling her that this was fake, that he was only luring her into a false sense of security just like everyone else did.

“Well, nothing was damaged that can’t be regrown or replaced,” Greg pointed out, “and no one got hurt in the end, right? Well, besides her,” he added as an afterthought.

Spinel felt small. “...Right?”

“Then there’s no harm done.” 

Her eyes widened. “That’s it?”

“That’s it,” Greg confirmed. He hopped up, slightly rocking the van. “I’m gonna fetch something from inside. I’ll be right back, I promise.”

Spinel was too stunned to even protest, staring into her lap as he walked away. Was...she just let completely off the hook? This didn’t feel right at all. He was _supposed_ to be mad at her. She had wasted everyone’s time and dragged them all into yet another battle she couldn’t win by herself. She was supposed to be lectured and taught a lesson for being so stupid and careless. Why wasn’t that happening? This was completely new territory, and it was _scary._

Spinel tugged on her pigtails unconsciously, feeling herself getting worked up all over again. She just...didn’t understand. If he wasn’t mad, then why was he keeping her around? What did he want from her? Surely he wanted something; no one talked to her if they didn’t need something from her. 

Greg was back in the front seat, a large black box under his arm. She watched as he fiddled with some of the buttons on the front, as if she would be able to reveal his true intentions if she stared hard enough. Should she ask? Would that be considered rude? She didn’t even know what the rules were down here; she should probably ask about that before anything else.

Although, she wondered if there was even a point to that. She knew that she was a hindrance to everyone else who lived on Earth. Perhaps it would be better if she made herself scarce now, before she caused any more trouble. Surely there was some abandoned colony somewhere out in space she could retreat to. It would be lonely, sure, but better for everyone else in the end.

Something soft was suddenly draped over her back, startling her. She glanced down, noticing that one of the large pieces of fabric- a blanket, she faintly recalled- was resting across her shoulder pads. Her fingers traced the blue material in slight interest. She’d never felt anything like it before, but something about it did make her feel a bit better for some reason. She pulled it a little bit tighter around herself, feeling guilty for enjoying it.

A few minutes later, Greg clambered back over the front seats, two unfamiliar objects that he was trying not to jostle in his hands. “Here.”

Spinel blinked as one of the cylinders was carefully handed over to her. There was a dark liquid inside with small white shapes floating at the top. “What’s this?”

Greg gave her a toothy grin. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that hot chocolate solves a lot of problems. Go ahead and drink up, just don’t burn yourself.”

While his back was turned, Spinel held up the thing called “hot chocolate” and inspected it closer, feeling the steam on her face. It sounded like it was meant to be consumed, like a...what was it called? Food? She could barely remember someone, Steven maybe, giving instructions on how to properly eat. Where and when the memory came from she wasn’t sure, but she supposed it was good she remembered it now.

The hot chocolate was warm, as expected, and pleasantly sweet, a flavor that for some reason felt familiar. There was something else, too: something that she couldn’t pinpoint. It caused an unprompted smile to ghost her face and made her chest feel fuzzy, but in a good way. Similar to the blanket, it must have had some sort of magical property that made her feel just a tiny bit less awful about herself. 

“All cozy?” Greg asked, sitting down on the mattress a little ways away.

“Mhm,” Spinel hummed absentmindedly in response, fighting to suppress the faint glimmer of excitement she felt upon seeing the guitar in his hands. She liked the sounds it made.

Soon, the air was filled with the gentle, nonsensical strumming of the instrument. It was nothing more than chords and occasional phrases Spinel didn’t recognize, but she didn’t mind. It was nice, being near someone else’s presence again, and the music provided something other than her raging thoughts to fill the void of silence. It was serene in a way, and sitting here, basking in it, almost made her shoulders unwind and relax for the first time...ever, really.

She didn’t deserve this.

The single thought alone was enough to make it all come crashing down, and soon Spinel was thrown back into her personal storm of fear and self-torment. If she had a heart, it would have been racing impossibly fast. She had almost let her guard down. She had almost given in to her selfish ideas of wanting...this. This calmness, this security. 

No, security was a lie. This was a lie, and even if it wasn’t, she didn’t deserve any of it. She needed to focus on the task at hand: figuring out what he wanted with her. Or, even better: figuring out somewhere to hide away, where she couldn’t be a problem for anyone else.

“Something on your mind there?” Greg asked as if he could see how deep in thought she was by the look on her face..

Spinel’s grip tightened on the hot chocolate, finally deciding to bite the bullet. If rejection was coming, at least she was ready for it. “I’m sorry for what I did today. And I...understand if you don’t want me here anymore.”

Greg rested his forearms on his guitar, gazing at her. “Why would I want that?”

There he went again, being so excessively kind to her when she did nothing to earn it. “You don’t have to do that, y’know,’” she muttered.

Greg blinked in confusion. “Do what?”

Spinel waved a hand. “You don’t have to pretend to be nice to me to spare my feelings or nothin’. I’d…” She swallowed hard, memories that she longed to forget starting to make a reappearance. “I’d like it better if you were honest with me.”

“I am, don’t worry.” Greg’s smile remained as gentle as ever, but Spinel still wasn’t sure if she believed him.

“So, do you want me to, then?” she asked tentatively.

“I wouldn’t mind at all if you stayed. But, that’s your decision at the end of the day.”

“But what do _you_ want me to do?”

“What I want is for you to make the decision that is best for you, and I’ll support it.”

Spinel let out a distressed noise, half in frustration and half in anxiousness. She was never good at making decisions for herself; it was the reason why she was in this mess in the first place, after all. “It’s...not that easy for me.”

“Well…” Greg reached over and carefully moved her hand from its place in her hair to her lap; she hadn’t even realized she’d been pulling on it again. “I don’t think anyone will have any problems with you staying here, so if that’s what you want to do, it’s totally fine. But, if you don’t feel comfortable, I’m sure we can find a new town or even another planet that would be a good fit for you.”

Of course Spinel wanted to stay. Deep down she wanted it more than anything, but she couldn’t just let herself do that. It was a vicious tug-of-war that she was unfortunately familiar with. She craved companionship but shied away from it at the same time. She wanted security but was much too terrified to ever let her guard down. She needed to feel accepted somewhere but would never allow herself to believe it to be true.

Greg noticed her silence. “You don’t have to make any decisions now. I know it’s been a long day.”

Spinel nodded once, internally relieved. “Yeah…”

“How are you feeling?”

“Honestly?” Spinel’s pigtails drooped. “Just...confused, kinda freaked out…”

Greg twisted behind him to put his guitar in the front seat, then patted the spot next to him on the mattress. “C’mere.”

Spinel hesitated at first, weighing her options, before putting down the hot chocolate and gingerly scooting a little closer. His presence could be felt a lot more noticeably now, and she was suddenly reminded of how much she missed physical contact. The Pearls had given it sometimes, but their gestures had been so rare and fleeting that it actually left her more starved of it than anything. 

“What are you confused about?” Greg asked.

Spinel shrugged, more of her thoughts trickling past her mental walls before she could stop them. “People are so _nice_ here, and I know Lapis and all of you say that everyone deserves it, but I just...I don’t get it. I’m sorry.”

“That’s alright, you don’t have to get it right away. But, that’s why I’m here; I can help you learn to understand it.”

Spinel glanced up at him in suspicion. “Why would you want to? You don’t even know me.”

“But I can get to know you,” Greg pointed out.

“That’s...a bad idea,” Spinel muttered. She gestured towards herself. “I mean, just look at me. I don’t think you know what you’re getting into.”

“Maybe I don’t know, but I’m not one to stand by and wonder. Dad instincts, y’know?” Greg chuckled a little, noticing her blank stare. “I bet you’re tired of always being on edge all the time, huh?”

Spinel gave a wry smile. “You have no idea. But...I dunno, it doesn’t feel like I can be helped.”

“Well, no harm in trying again, right?”

Spinel bit her lip. Her being an emotional mess seemed pretty set in stone, but at least there was no way she could get any worse. Maybe. She didn’t really want to think about what could possibly make her even more unstable. “I guess not. What did you have in mind?”

“I’m guessing the whole ‘not wanting to be alone thing’ doesn’t come from a blind place, huh?”

“Yeah.” Spinel cringed. “I’d...rather not talk about the details. I’m sorry.”

“That’s okay.” Greg shifted in place. “My point is, it’s perfectly understandable that you’re afraid of it, but it doesn’t have to be a scary thing. It’s good to have time to yourself sometimes, and even then it’s not really being alone. We can call it...being independent, if you will.”

Spinel balked. “How can that be a good thing?”

“Being solely dependent on one person doesn’t work as well as you’d think. I don’t mind you hanging around, but there are going to be times when I’m going off somewhere and you can’t come along.”

“Yeah,” Spinel trailed off with a frown. She figured as much, but that didn’t mean she liked it. 

Greg noticed the drop in her mood and hastened to reassure her. “That doesn’t mean I’ll leave you hanging. We’ll start slow, and practice with it. But it'll help with trusting that other people will treat you well, and it’ll make it easier to be alone with your thoughts.”

“What if…” Spinel’s grip tightened on the blanket. “What if I can’t deal with them by myself?”

“There’s a difference between being independent and being alone. If it’s too much, you can find me or someone else you trust to help you. We’re not going to let you deal with things yourself if you don’t feel like you can.”

Spinel sank down even further, feeling rather meek all of a sudden. “And, that’s not...being a burden? I wouldn’t be selfish for doing it?”

“Of course not.” The hand placed on her shoulder was warm and soothing. “You’re not a burden for needing help. You can talk about anything you need to, just say the word, kiddo. This is a safe place.”

“...Anything?”

“Anything at all.”

That sounded nice. That sounded really nice. Being able to let out everything that was bothering her, being provided safety, being _wanted-_ it was everything Spinel could ask for. But how long would it last, really? Greg admitted himself that he didn’t know her that well; if he knew just how messed up she was, he would definitely have second thoughts about trying to help her. There were some really, really bad parts of her that she hated and knew everyone else would hate if they ever saw such things. She didn’t want him to see that side of her. Being helped with her surface-level problems was so much more than good enough.

Maybe it was selfish and greedy, but...deep down, she did want to stay. No matter how much she buried it, she couldn’t shake the tiny sliver of hope of having people in her life who actually wanted her around, no strings attached. And maybe...maybe she would finally get it. She just had to keep all of her really bad thoughts bottled up to keep them from messing up everything, and only then she had a chance. A tiny chance, but a chance all the same.

“...Thanks for talking with me,” she mumbled.

“No problem. I hope it helped.”

"Yeah, it...it did."


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spinel is given an unofficial tour of Beach City. Shenanigans ensue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We gettin on that quarantine grind boissss
> 
> This chapter is kinda filler stuff, so sorry about that TuT At least it’s long

Inky black slowly transitioned into the muddled colors of daybreak. Now being able to see more than a few inches in front of her, Spinel began to gingerly unwind her arms, which had been curled tightly around herself at least five times. Her shaking hands braced herself as she shifted, trying to calm down. 

Spinel hated the fact that being in the dark was still so terrifying to her, but there wasn’t really anything she could do about it. At first she had contemplated waking Greg for a bit of reassurance, but ultimately she gave up on that selfish thought and decided not to bother him. Darkness was such a _stupid_ thing to be afraid of, anyway. It was just the absence of light, no big deal.

Well, that and it was an uncomfortable reminder of over six thousand years of abandonment and solitude.

But that was fine, it was fine. It wasn’t dark _now,_ so there wasn’t anything to worry about until the next night. She just had to suck it up for about eight hours every day for the rest of her stay here, and everything would be alright. No one would have to know how pathetic she was.

It was fine.

Greg slept a little longer than usual, but soon he was up and about. After a quick dash into the building nearby (much to her disdain) he came back with a small...pouch thing in his hand. He was wearing different appearance modifiers too, ones that were longer and darker.

“I’ve got some errands to run,” he said, grabbing a brush and running it through his hair a couple of times. “You wanna come along?”

Spinel hesitated, ignoring the feeling of relief that washed over her at the prospect of being invited along. “If that’s…okay.”

“‘Course it’s okay.” Greg stuffed the pouch away and hopped out of the van. He moved aside as Spinel stepped outside herself and looked around. It wasn’t as bright out today, and although she technically couldn’t get cold, she did pick up on a noticeable drop in temperature. Perhaps that was why his modifiers looked different.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

Greg fiddled with a small rectangle, the glow of the screen lighting up his face. “Well, I gotta pick up some things for a friend of mine. The store and her house are on opposite sides of town from each other, so we can look around on our way there if you want.

“But first…” He put the device away. “I think some breakfast is in order. What do you think?”

Having no idea what that meant, Spinel fumbled for a second. “Uh...sure?”

“Glad to hear.” Greg put his hands on his hips. “Ready to go?”

Spinel jolted, realizing that he was waiting for her to follow him. She quickly shuffled up to stand by him, shifting her position a few times. She wasn’t sure what counted as being too close, but once they started walking, the fear of being left behind soon outweighed that thought and she ended up nearly plastered to his side.

She couldn’t help but be on edge as they strolled down the path, despite there being almost no one else outside. The last time she’d left the van, a deranged gem had tried to poof her and take her back to Homeworld, and that was enough to put her off of interaction with strangers for a while. Not to mention most of the humans living here probably didn’t have the best impression of her.

Spinel’s gaze shifted to the right by chance, and she suddenly realized that she had unconsciously grabbed onto Greg’s hand while they were walking. The color drained from her face, and she immediately jerked away in horror. _“Sorry,”_ she blurted out, hastily moving to clasp her hands together in front of her instead, ducking behind her pigtails in shame. What was wrong with her?

Greg didn’t seem annoyed in the slightest. “You can hold my hand if you want,” he said, offering it to her again.

Spinel tensed up, eyes darting left and right. “I-it’s fine. I know people like their personal space and all.”

“It won’t bother me,” Greg smiled.

There it was _again,_ the undeserved stroke of kindness that her walls always crumbled in the face of. Spinel tried to deny the offer, but the words died in her throat as soon as she opened her mouth. It seemed as though the lack of affection had finally caught up with her. She ultimately gave in and gingerly reached for his hand again, feeling rather pathetic.

“Are you sure they’ll all be...okay with me being around?” she asked once they started walking again.

“It’ll be alright. I would’ve been more careful about taking you around town if I was worried about it.”

Spinel frowned, still a little unsure. “I know, I just...wasn’t the nicest the last time I was here.”

“Well, if it makes you feel any better, this isn’t the first time someone’s invaded Earth.”

“Huh?” Spinel’s pigtails rose up sharply at the statement. 

“I’m sure Lapis told you about how she stole the ocean the first time she showed up.” Greg started counting off on the fingers of his other hand. “Then there was Peridot, then a couple of those corrupted gems, then Aquamarine, then the Diamonds. And those are just the incidents I know about.”

Spinel had no idea how to feel about this. On one hand, she was secretly glad to not be the first one to have threatened the Earth, but on the other, she felt bad for adding onto that list. “That’s...a lot.”

“Yeah,” Greg chuckled. “And some of those gems are actually close with some of the humans here, despite all that. So, if you’re worried about what they’ll think of you, I say you’ll do fine with making friends.”

Having to face other humans that Spinel could have killed still didn’t seem all that appealing to her, but at least she wouldn’t be facing them by herself. The secure grip on her hand was actually helping to keep her nerves down in an oddly reassuring way.

A small building with some sort of giant circular statue on top, along with a sign that she couldn’t read, was positioned at the end of the path. As they approached, Spinel’s head perked up at the smell that wafted from the door. She wasn’t sure what it was, but it smelled amazing and strangely familiar. She tried not to let her interest show as they entered the building.

There was a human with a strangely-shaped head already inside, bracing his arms against the table in front of him. He and Greg were clearly friends, but Spinel still felt impending dread rise within her at the sight. The ambient conversation faded to background noise as thoughts of what this human could do or say if he happened to recognize her sprang to mind, and she ended up inching further behind Greg as a means of defense. She watched with a wary eye as the human fiddled with something behind the counter.

Eventually an exchange was made, and Greg passed something to her wrapped in paper. Spinel finally recognized the objects in the glass containers as “donuts,” human food that she faintly recalled trying last time she was on Earth. She bit into it eagerly, reveling in the sweet taste. It was oddly nostalgic.

They left the building soon after, and the human gave them a wave as they passed through the door. Spinel had her hands full, but she did flash him a tiny smile in return. He didn’t chase her out in anger, so this gifter of donuts didn’t seem all that bad. 

“Taste good?” Greg asked. 

Spinel nodded, looking over the confectionery with interest. She liked the colorful dust that had been sprinkled over the top. “Does all human food taste like this?”

“Nah, food’s made up of all sorts of things.” Greg nodded towards the pastry in her hand. “For example, that tastes the way it does ‘cause of all the sugar and trans fats.”

“What‘s a trans fat?”

Greg snorted. “That’s a lot to explain, and not really my area of expertise.”

“Oh.” Spinel studied the donut again, then took another bite. “Sugar” and “trans fat” tasted pretty good, she deduced.

More and more humans left their dwellings to traverse the streets as time went on. Spinel’s interaction with the donut merchant, although brief, had been rather successful, but so many people in one area still made her a little nervous. It was kind of funny, in a twisted way: a lifetime ago, she would have done anything to grab the attention of everyone within earshot, and now she was just glad no one gave her a second glance.

The human town wasn’t as confusing as Spinel had originally thought it would be. Much like what she was used to, each place seemed to have its own designated function. The smaller, more decorated buildings were “houses”: places where Greg’s friends lived. Most of the names of said friends had gone right over Spinel’s head, but she did remember a “Barb” and a “Connie’s Family” among them. There were also a lot of food-related shops that they passed by; apparently humans liked variety when it came to eating. 

The “arcade” was one of the more unique places. Greg said it was a place humans went to for entertainment, although how said entertainment worked Spinel wasn’t sure. Peering inside, she spotted a lot of tall metal boxes with screens plastered on them, decorated with splashes of color and bold text that she couldn’t read. They were strange, but she did like the purple lights and the geometric patterns on the floor.

“MR. UNIVERSE!” 

A massive human suddenly emerged from behind the machines and spedwalk towards them with the subtlety and politeness of a raging Quartz soldier. Spinel felt her fight-or-flight instinct kick in as the mid-morning quiet was shattered, and she and Greg jerkily backpedaled a good three steps away.

“I’ve been looking for you!” the advancing human exclaimed. He smiled, his grin visibly stretching his face as he did so.

Greg, who initially looked ready to either sprint away or keel over, relaxed back into his easygoing posture. “Uh, good morning, Mr. Smiley. What’s-?”

Before Greg could finish his sentence, the human, apparently named “Mr. Smiley”, suddenly lunged forward until he was right in front of their faces. Spinel flinched and ducked behind Greg, rather unnerved. Should she do something?

“I have a problem, Greg Universe. A very, _very_ big problem!” Mr. Smiley continued, his grin appearing much more strained. “Can you fix an arcade machine?”

“Can I- what?” Greg echoed, dumbfounded. “Hang on, I thought you’ve worked at this place for years. Why can’t you do it?”

“Because of _this!”_ Mr. Smiley shook his right arm furiously. Spinel snuck a quick peek around Greg and saw that the other human’s wrist was wrapped in some sort of dark material. “I caught Vidalia’s youngest stealing change out of the machines again, but when I went to chase him, I fell and sprained my wrist. And now some...some _delinquent_ has been breaking arcade machines left and right, but I can’t fix them with my dominant hand like this!”

Greg rubbed the back of his neck. “Geez, that’s rough. If you want, I can call a specialist to take a look at them-“

Mr. Smiley waved his uninjured hand dismissively, appearing to have not even heard the other human’s suggestion. “Since you’re here, I could really use your help. This is similar to fixing up those cars of yours, right?”

“Uh, no?” Greg sounded slightly stressed. “I don’t even repair cars, I just run a carwash-“

“Great!” Mr. Smiley suddenly seized Greg’s arm and yanked him into the arcade. Spinel didn’t even have time to register what was happening until she was being dragged behind them through the building, barely catching herself to prevent tripping.

They soon came to a jerky stop in front of one of the machines. “This is the one that broke the other day,” Mr. Smiley reported, glaring at the lifeless screen. “I turn around for one minute and in the next it’s completely dead.”

Greg ran a hand through his hair with a sigh, seemingly having accepted his fate. “Alright, I guess I could take a look. I’m not sure how much use I’ll be, though.”

He glanced back with a smile. “I’m gonna need both hands for this, kiddo.”

Spinel jumped, realizing that Greg was talking to her. “Oh. Right.” She slowly released the tight grip she had on his arm, suddenly feeling very insecure without it.

Greg crouched down next to a panel on the side of the machine and grabbed a metal stick from the pile of tools next to it. “Alright, let’s see what we got h-“ He managed to pry open the panel and visibly cringed at the sheer amount of wires that spilled out. “Hoo boy.”

Spinel hovered anxiously nearby as Greg crawled further inside and began fiddling with tangled mess of cables. She occasionally cast side-eyed glances at Mr. Smiley, who was fretting over the state of his precious arcade machine. She didn’t like this human as much; he was much more...aggressive, and the way he bossed around Greg rubbed her the wrong way.

Her pigtails shot up as she picked up on new arrivals entering the arcade. To her surprise, Lapis, Bismuth, and Peridot were walking in, the smallest of the three appearing very excited to be there. She was darting in-between the different consoles with stars in her eyes while the other two looked on in amusement.

Should she say hello? Was that allowed? Lapis had been rather friendly the last time they had met, but that didn’t mean she wanted to talk this time. The blue gem was already having fun with her own friends, and the last thing Spinel wanted was to get in the way and be an annoyance. She’d already done way too much of that in her lifetime.

Mr. Smiley also noticed the gems enter the building and waved a hand, his voice booming across the large room. “You three! Back to clear out my prize counter again?” He laughed heartily.

Bismuth chuckled. “I hope you restocked; Peridot came to win today.”

Lapis’s gaze suddenly slid over and caught sight of a certain magenta gem. “Oh, hey Spinel,” she piped up, catching the attention of her two companions.

Spinel froze, not expecting to be noticed so quickly- or at all. “Hi...again.”

Bismuth regarded her as well, and despite the fact that they had been on opposite sides during their last interaction, her expression was strangely free of hostility. “Did you come to play a couple games, too?” 

It took an enormous effort for Spinel to not cower away as they came closer. “Uh, not exactly. We got…” She gestured helplessly towards Greg and the broken machine, suddenly finding it nearly impossible to form normal sentences. “...distracted.”

Lapis eyed the damaged console. “Yikes. Looks like your usual’s out of order, Peri.”

Peridot didn’t seem broken up about this in the slightest. “I suppose we’ll have to switch to Plan B.” Her visored eyes scanned the arcade before spotting her target, and she pointed with the authority of a Hessonite commander. “That one!”

“Sounds good.” Bismuth put her hands on her hips. “You wanna join us for a couple of rounds, Spinel?”

“I-I, uh…” Spinel’s heart leaped at the invitation, but it had been a _while_ since she had properly socialized and she didn’t want to mess anything up. One wrong word could very well mean the end of it all, and it almost seemed safer to just decline in the first place. Suddenly feeling anxious, she found herself turning to Greg for guidance. He knew these gems better than she did, so his two cents were more valuable than her own.

Greg’s head popped out of the machine’s interior and pointed his thumb at the sky again. “Go have fun! I’m gonna be here for a while.” His smile became sympathetic, as if sensing more of her impending doubts before she could even voice them herself. “I’ll come find you when I’m done, don’t worry.”

He seemed like he genuinely wanted her to go and play and Spinel didn’t want to be a nuisance, so she did her best to shove down her worries. “Y-yeah, sure,” she replied, turning back to the trio of gems.

Peridot let out a giddy squeak, practically vibrating in place. “Now you can witness my pure, unadulterated skill at these videogame programs!”

Bismuth rolled her eyes playfully and led the way, motioning for everyone else to follow. “C’mon, before she poofs herself out of excitement.”

Spinel was suddenly being pulled across the arcade by Peridot, who was babbling on about something she couldn’t quite catch. It wasn’t like she would have been able to pay attention anyway, with how quickly everything was moving. Three gems she had been enemies with only a few months prior trying to befriend her was enough to give her whiplash. 

She absolutely could not mess this up. If they decided that they didn’t like her, that would be more than enough to justify sending her away. As long as no underlying emotions rose to the surface, she would be fine. 

The machine Peridot had singled out was one of the older-looking ones. The face of it was covered in cartoonish pictures of galaxies and strange spaceships, and it had faded orange writing at the top. The screen was active, and Spinel watched with mild interest as a heavily-pixelated shape flew across the black background. “What’s this?” she asked.

Peridot strolled up to the front of the machine, showing it off. “This is only one of the best videogames in this entire vicinity! I have an estimated 265 hours logged onto this console, and I have secured all 100 positions on the leaderboard. Observe!”

Peridot pressed a few of the buttons, and up came a long list of characters and numbers Spinel could hardly understand. She did, however, take note of the “P5XG”s running down the entire left-hand side of the list.

Lapis let out a low whistle. “Wow, you really have been busy.”

“Indeed,” Peridot confirmed smugly, looking rather pleased with herself. “I plan on overcoming my best score today.”

“In that case, you should probably go last, or else you’ll hog the game for hours,” Bismuth suggested.

Peridot squawked in indignation as the blacksmith ruffled her hair, messing up its perfectly triangular shape. “Ack! Fine, fine!” With a flail of her arms, she was able to fend off the assault on her hair and hastened to put it back into place. “Lapis, you can go first.”

“Alright.” Lapis slid up to the machine and stuffed her hand in her pants pocket, pulling out something round and shiny. She stuck it into a slot on the side, causing a short jingle to erupt from the speakers. Spinel leaned in curiously as the screen booted up, displaying a tiny spaceship in the middle of what looked like a crude representation of outer space.

“So, this is a game?” the magenta gem asked, tilting her head slightly. None of the games she’d ever played were this...virtual.

“Yep, although it’s a bit more like a simulation.” Bismuth looked on as the little spaceship on the screen started to move around. “The main goal of this one is to destroy all of the enemy bases without dying.”

Lapis fiddled with the stick attached to the machine as her spaceship struggled to avoid the small red bullets flying back and forth. “I’m not very good at this one- damn it!” she hissed as a tinny explosion noise sounded from the speakers.

“Lapis Lazuli!” Bismuth scolded. “There are innocents here!”

Lapis snorted. “Whoops.”

Apparently each player had three tries to beat the game, so Lapis was able to continue for a little longer. Spinel struggled to keep up with what was going on on the screen as the spaceship flew around the map, shooting haphazardly. It looked pretty difficult; there were a lot of things to be aware of, according to Peridot and Bismuth’s rather distracting commentary. Eventually, the spaceship dissolved into nothingness and the main screen returned as if nothing had ever happened.

“Bosconian, I have failed you,” Lapis mourned, slumping over the controls. For a moment Spinel was worried she was actually upset, but the joking grin on the blue gem’s face when she raised her head confirmed that she was largely exaggerating her disappointment.

Bismuth patted her shoulder. “Alright, Miss Waterworks, step aside.”

Lapis moved away from the console with a flourish. “Do your worst.” A smirk crossed her face. “Just don’t break off the joystick again.”

Bismuth crossed her arms, an offended look on her face, while Peridot cackled nearby. “Hey! It’s not my fault these things weren’t built to last.” She shook her head in false exasperation as the other two high-fived each other.

Spinel managed a smile at the light banter. She felt a little out of place among the deeply-rooted friendships the three clearly shared, but there was no way she was going to say anything about it. Dampening the mood was definitely not her intention. Instead, she looked around, hoping to find something to distract herself until the nasty thoughts faded away.

Unfortunately, the clock on the wall caught her eye, and with a jolt she realized that nearly fifteen minutes had passed. How long was fixing an arcade machine supposed to take? Did Greg already finish? Spinel craned her neck, the way her eyes darted back and forth increasing in desperation the longer she looked. He wouldn’t have just...left her, right? But what if he did, what if he had gotten tired of her, why did she trust this-

She stretched out her neck to see over the maze of lights and patterns, and that’s when she spotted him and Mr. Smiley still by the broken console. She let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding, feeling lightheaded from relief. Greg was still there. He hadn’t left her, it was okay. She was just overreacting again, like always.

Although, Spinel now couldn’t stop thinking about the possibility of being abandoned and found it difficult to concentrate on the game. She tried to pay attention out of respect, but her eyes would flicker back over to the entrance every five seconds, just in case. She wasn’t sure if she could trust that Greg wouldn’t leave without her, not when he had every reason to.

“Hey, Spinel!” Bismuth’s voice yanked her back into the present. The blacksmith was tossing another one of those shiny circles up and down. “You wanna try it out?”

Spinel faltered. She remembered Peridot had been excited to play, and she didn’t want to impose on that. “It’s alright,” she tried to deflect.

“C’mon, we warmed up the controls for you,” Bismuth insisted, giving her a charismatic grin. 

“It’s only fair that everyone gets a turn,” Lapis piped up. She nudged Peridot with her elbow. “It’s not a big deal. Right, Peri?”

Peridot waved a hand dismissively. “Of course not. I have all afternoon to beat my record. One extra player won’t throw off my schedule.”

Spinel’s gaze slid back to the token in Bismuth’s hand. Okay, maybe she did kind of want to try out the game. It was probably fine if they were so willing to let her have a turn, as long as she didn’t take too long. “Sure, in that case.”

Before she approached the console, she took one last look around, just to confirm everything was fine. Yep, Greg was still there.

Lapis apparently noticed this behavior. “He won't leave without you, but we can keep an eye out if you want,” she said, propping up an elbow against the edge of the interface.

Spinel felt her mouth go dry. She wanted to smack herself after letting a moment of weakness like that shine through. “Thanks...” she managed stiffly. She had to be more careful.

Peridot was suddenly in her personal space, reaching under her to point at the few controls that were below the screen. “The joystick is for controlling the direction you fly in, the left button is for the forward blaster, and the right button is for the rear blaster. You destroy enemy bases either by shooting the central generator or by taking out the six outer hubs surrounding it.”

“Or you can just shoot until you win. That’s what I do,” Lapis suggested.

“I’ll...keep that in mind?” Spinel trailed off meekly as Bismuth inserted the coin.

Within seconds, something was shooting at her spaceship and she had no choice but to jump right into the gameplay without any preparation at all. Spinel felt her stress levels rising as enemies began to swarm in, circling angrily around their bases like agitated Ruby soldiers. It was all she could do to avoid their blaster fire while attempting to get her bearings straight.

Soon, after quite a few near-crashes and close calls (and two deaths), her frantic flying became more calculated, and the time spent traveling aimlessly across the map shrunk by a good few seconds. Her shots were much less hit-or-miss than before, and by the eighth stage she was able to get a bullet into the center of the bases with a lot less difficulty. The immersed dialogue the trio surrounding her provided spurred her on as well. 

“Hey, not bad,” Lapis praised, watching Spinel take out a fighter that had been on her tail for a while.

“Better watch out, Peri. Spinel’s coming for you and your leaderboard,” Bismuth teased.

Peridot didn’t seem to be bothered by this at all. On the contrary, she looked just as excited as she had been when she’d first entered the arcade. “A challenger, at last!”

Spinel shrunk down sheepishly, ignoring how their comments secretly made her gem feel warm. They probably weren’t being serious, anyway. “Gee, I’m not that good yet.”

“Well, no one can beat me on their first try. My skills are much too advanced for that to be possible,” Peridot stated matter-of-factly. “But, with practice, I’d say you’ll be a worthy opponent!”

“Really?” The moment Spinel took her eyes off of the screen, a stray fighter flew into view and, before she could react, fired directly at her spaceship. Everyone stilled as the explosion animation played, followed by the depressing tune that meant the player was out of lives.

It was a good five seconds before Lapis cracked up, followed closely by Peridot and then Bismuth. Normally, Spinel would have believed that they were laughing at her misfortune just to be cruel, but strangely that idea didn’t stick with her as much as it usually did. The comedic timing was simply too good to not react to, and Spinel let out an almost inaudible giggle alongside them.

Stars, it had been a while since she’d laughed.

“Well, that was anticlimactic,” Bismuth remarked once she had caught her breath. “Guess that means you’re up, Peridot.”

“Yes!” Spinel barely had time to move out of the way before Peridot scrambled up to the machine. She was just barely tall enough to properly see the screen, but that didn’t stop her. She cracked her knuckles and stretched her arms, putting on a much more serious expression.

“Alright, clods,” she muttered, sliding in a token of her own. “Prepare to consume my unending blaster fire!”

Spinel looked on in awe as Peridot flawlessly directed her spaceship throughout the levels with ease, weaving and ducking her way around bullets in a way that could almost be described as graceful. Enemy fighters and bases were brought down as soon as they appeared on screen, with no more than one bullet with deadly accuracy used for each of them. The green gem had definitely had a considerable amount of practice; it was quite literally like watching a master at their craft.

“She’s really good,” Spinel muttered to Lapis after a while.

Lapis nodded in agreement. “She takes her videogames very seriously.” She smirked as Peridot, having successfully cleared her twenty-third stage, laughed maniacally. “Maybe a little too seriously, but that’s Peri for you.”

The water gem then gently grabbed Spinel’s arm and pulled her slightly away from the console, blue eyes scanning her. “So, how have you been?”

“Huh?” Oh, right, the pact. Spinel looked around for Greg, just to be safe, before answering. “I’m okay.”

“If you were okay, we wouldn’t be having this conversation,” Lapis deadpanned. 

Spinel shrunk down. “It’s still just…” She trailed off, searching for the right words. She needed something that wasn’t alarming, but also was unsure enough to be realistic.

“A lot?” Lapis finished for her.

Good enough. “Yeah.”

Lapis smiled knowingly. “I get that. That’s how Earth was for me at first. It was so...different, and it had a lot of bad memories attached to it. No matter where I went, I couldn’t stop thinking about them, and the moment something bad came up, I just wanted to run.”

Spinel nodded. She was all too familiar with that. “How did you learn to deal with it?”

Lapis blinked, and for a moment Spinel could pick up on a trace of self-doubt in her eyes. “You sure you’d rather not ask Steven or Greg? They’d be better at this than me.”

“Well…” Spinel didn’t really want to explain all of her feelings on that matter. She ducked down shyly, suddenly regretting her question. She didn’t want to make Lapis uncomfortable. “Nevermind, forget I said anything.”

“No, it’s fine.” Lapis swept her bangs away from her eyes. “Eventually I realized that I was never going to be able to run from those thoughts, no matter how far I went. So, I figured I might as well work through them with the people I cared about. It’s still hard, don’t get me wrong, but you’d never believe how much nicer it is to have support instead of trying to deal with everything yourself.”

Spinel thought back to the way the other three gems had interacted with each other. To be so close and relaxed around someone else, to be able to say what was on her mind without worrying about judgement...it was a luxury she didn’t deserve in the slightest. Spinel wasn’t like them; she was way too broken and weak-minded and sensitive. The only way she would be able to keep her friendships was to hold it all back and never let anyone see the worst of her pain and self-torment.

Ironically enough, the only way for her to not end up alone was to push everyone away.

“I don’t know if I can,” she admitted refusing to give details. Lapis deserved some of the truth, but details were too dangerous.

Lapis gave a bittersweet grin. “Trust issues are awful like that.”

“You said it.” Spinel regarded her curiously, eager to move the subject over to something else. “What about you? How’s the fusion thing going?”

Lapis’s smile brightened. “I’m working on it. I need a good time to bring it up, if that makes sense.”

“Yeah.” Spinel couldn’t help but admire her. Lapis harbored so much strength, much more than she had, and she found herself genuinely excited for the ocean gem. “Remember to tell me.”

“I will, I will,” Lapis promised. She glanced over discreetly, and the next time she spoke she lowered her voice a little. “Let’s head back, I think Bismuth knows something’s up.”

Sure enough, Bismuth’s eyes were on them as they returned to the arcade machine, one eyebrow raised. “What were you two gossiping about over there?” she questioned with a faux-serious expression.

“Aren’t we nosy today?” Lapis teased.

“It’s what I do.” Bismuth jutted her thumb towards Peridot, who hadn’t moved an inch from her spot. “Peri’s getting closer to her high score.”

“‘Closer’ is a relative term,” Peridot called back to them, not even turning around. “I still have approximately fifty three perfect stages to go before I’m within range.”

Suddenly there was a loud pop, causing all four gems to jump back in surprise. The screen on the machine suddenly switched off, taking the 8-bit music and blaster noises with it. The area was plunged into a stunned silence as they stared blankly at their reflections in the lifeless screen.

Lapis was the first to speak. _“Booooo.”_

Peridot let out a series of strangled noises in frustration. “Ugh, why does this always happen?!” She moved to kick the console angrily, but then quickly decided it was a bad idea.

“I told you: not meant to last.” Bismuth knelt down beside the machine and pried open the paneling, pausing as a thin wisp of smoke arose from inside. “Uh oh.”

“What does that mean?” Spinel asked, tensing up.

“Looks like none of these things can handle Peridot.” Bismuth let out a wheeze. “I think it got fried!”

Peridot crouched down beside the blacksmith, one finger tapping her chin as she slipped into technician mode. “If it’s simply overheated, it should be an easy fix.”

“That’s what you said last time,” Lapis pointed out. “We’re lucky the human that runs this place was distracted enough.”

Spinel was feeling rather confused about the exchange between the trio, when something suddenly dawned on her. “Wait, were you guys the ones who broke the last-?”

“Ack, he’s coming!” Peridot yelped, springing to her feet. “Everyone, act natural!”

The three instantly scrambled into action. Bismuth slammed the panel shut and raced to stand in front of the black screen, while Lapis and Peridot leaned against the side of the console to conceal any last traces of smoke. It looked nowhere close to natural, but there wasn’t any time to adjust before footsteps approached them.

“I do appreciate you trying, at least.” The top of Mr. Smiley’s head bobbed up and down as it drew closer.

“Yeah, sorry I couldn’t do more, but I don’t exactly have any spare parts on me.” Spinel felt a massive wave of relief wash over her again as Greg appeared from around the corner. Not wanting to take any more chances, she immediately ran over to his side.

“Hey there, kiddo,” Greg greeted cheerfully. “Did you have fun?”

Spinel nodded absentmindedly, accepting the offered hand and clinging to it tightly. She had to work to hide a newfound feeling of contentment at the fact that he had actually come back for her.

“Am I gonna have to prepare for four gems raiding my prize counter instead of three?” Mr. Smiley chortled. He glanced over at the three figures surrounding the arcade machine and wearing very fake smiles that even rivaled his own. “At this rate, I might be going bankrupt by next year!”

“Ha ha, that is _so_ funny!” Peridot exclaimed through her teeth, and Spinel saw Bismuth die a little inside.

“Well, we’d love to stay, but we’ve got some things to do.” Greg quickly checked the rectangular device he had that morning. “Let me know if that place I recommended works out.”

While Mr. Smiley’s back was turned, Spinel noticed Bismuth starting to creep towards the entrance to the arcade. Lapis, who was carrying Peridot under her arm, cautiously followed in her footsteps. At one point she almost knocked over a wastebasket, which was followed by frantic, silent gesturing from both parties.

“Will do!” Mr. Smiley replied, oblivious to the escape mission going on behind him. “I just hope whoever did it doesn’t show up again. You can only repair so many of these older ones, y’know?”

Bismuth reached the door and began motioning for the others to hurry, her wide eyes trained on the human. Once Lapis and Peridot were in the clear, all three waved to Spinel before Lapis unfurled her wings and flew them all away, barely giving the fuschia gem a chance to return the gesture.

Once Greg had led Spinel outside, he immediately slouched with a dreary sigh. “Sorry about the wait. That took longer than I thought it would.”

“It’s okay.” Spinel looked up at him. “Did you get it fixed?”

“No, whatever happened to it was way beyond what I was capable of fixing. Definitely did a number on my back, though.” Greg suddenly straightened up with a loud crack, causing her to jump. “That’s better.”

A horrified scream suddenly erupted from the inside of the arcade, practically shaking the earth with its intensity. Startled, Greg whipped around. “What was-?”

Spinel was already pulling him down the boardwalk. “Just keep walking.”

—

After twenty minutes of evading Mr. Smiley’s blind rage, they ended up at some sort of shop building. To Spinel’s disappointment, this one didn’t sell donuts, or anything that could be eaten for that matter. They did sell things that Greg had to pick up for his friend, who was apparently an “artist”. After some explaining, she learned that an “artist” did a lot of drawing and painting. Blue Pearl had enjoyed those things, although Spinel...tried not to think about the Pearls too much. That wound was still rather fresh.

The shop had a lot of things inside that Spinel had never seen before, and it was a little overwhelming. She had witnessed a lot today, and after over an hour of roaming the building she could feel herself beginning to run out of steam. At least there were a lot of new things to keep herself occupied, and Greg had chosen not to let go of her hand throughout their time inside, which made her feel better about the whole experience.

She chose to ignore the brief moment she had encountered a hauntingly-familiar garden display, not wanting to think about it ever again.

The sun was much lower in the sky by the time they arrived at one of the buildings that humans lived in. This one was painted a dark turquoise, with some sort of purple fabric covering the entrance. Spinel braced herself as they walked towards it, nervous about meeting yet another stranger. She had already interacted with a lot more people than she was used to.

Greg approached the entrance and knocked loudly on the wall of the house. “Delivery!” he called.

There was a series of scuffling noises on the other side of the fabric before it was yanked to the side, revealing a female human wearing baggy appearance modifiers. Her dark eyes lit up upon recognizing him. “Greg, there you are! About time.”

“Sorry about the wait, got pulled aside by Smiley on the way,” Greg apologized.

The human sucked in air through her teeth, cringing sympathetically. “No wonder you look balder than usual.”

“Hey!” Greg exclaimed, pretending to be upset. He held up the bag that was around his unoccupied wrist. “Keep that up and I’ll take this stuff back.”

The other human laughed, the wrinkles on her face creasing more as she did so. “I’m just kidding.” Her eyes landed on Spinel, who unfortunately failed at trying to be inconspicuous. “Oh! You must be Spinel. Greg told me you might be coming. I’m Vidalia.”

This human seemed a little less explosive than the last one, so that was a start. “Hi,” Spinel muttered shyly.

“So, Greg, I hear you got my stuff,” Vidalia said, eyeing the bag hungrily.

Greg handed it to her. “Yep. I hope those are the right shades.”

Vidalia quickly sifted through the contents in the bag, nodding in approval once she was done. “Looks like that’s everything.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small pouch. “Here, let me-“

Greg held up a hand to stop her. “Don’t worry about it.”

Vidalia shot him a look before opening the pouch and flipping through whatever was inside. “Greg, just because you’re rich now doesn’t mean I’m gonna let you go without payment. We’ve talked about this.”

“We did, and I told you I didn’t need anything,” Greg insisted. “It’s fine, V.”

Vidalia chewed on the inside of her cheek for a while, eyes narrowed, before abruptly snapping the pouch closed with a huff. _“Fine._ But I ordered some artist fuel pizza for dinner, and you two are staying to have some even if I have to tie you both down and shove it down your throats myself.”

“Fair enough,” Greg gave in, appearing rather nervous. Clearly the threat was not an empty one.

Vidalia, seemingly content with the agreement, pushed the entrance cover off to the side. “No point in standing around outside. Don’t mind the mess, I haven’t had time to organize yet.”

Spinel’s eyes widened as she was led through the small room, which was full of canvases. A few of the paintings were unique, but most of them were of an Amethyst- more specifically, the Crystal Gem Amethyst in various shapeshifts and physical forms. They covered the walls and were stacked up on the floor in all sizes. It was certainly...different. Spinel hoped Amethyst and Vidalia were friends, otherwise it was a lot weirder.

The other rooms in the house were free of Amethyst paintings, although there were still bits of art scattered around. Vidalia showed them to a large, soft...thing that was sitting against the wall and colored a dark magenta. Apparently it was something humans sat on.

As Greg and Vidalia chatted nearby, Spinel felt a pair of eyes trained on her. A very small human with a tuft of light hair on his head was standing at the bottom of a staircase. He was staring at her with large, unblinking eyes while snipping away at a piece of paper with some sort of tool.

Spinel couldn’t help but be a little creeped out. She tried waving to him, thinking that maybe he just wasn’t much of a conversation starter. If this human resided with Vidalia, then she figured she should at least try to be nice, despite his strange first impression.

The human didn’t seem to react and instead continued cutting the paper, which further confused her. Maybe he didn’t understand the gesture? 

He sliced off his final product and held it up to the light for inspection. To Spinel’s horror, it was a scarily accurate model of her own silhouette, down to the spiked pigtails and the inverted heart snipped out of the center of its chest. The human glanced down at it, then raised his unnerving stare back up to meet her terrified eyes before hovering the metal tool just over its neck. And he smiled.

Spinel scooted much closer to Greg after that.

The creepy human had run off by the time the “pizza” arrived, and Spinel was fortunately able to taste test in peace. It wasn’t as good as donuts (the lack of “sugar” and “trans fats” was probably the reason for this), but she still found herself enjoying it. The little red circles on top tasted funny, though, and she sneakily picked them off as to not be rude.

“So, Spinel,” Vidalia spoke up, changing the subject from whatever she and Greg had been discussing before, “how’s Earth treating you?”

Spinel nearly choked on her food, not expecting to be directly addressed. “Um, it’s...really different from what I’m used to.”

“How so?”

“Uh…” Spinel hadn’t anticipated a follow-up question, and she struggled to come up with an answer that wasn’t too concerning. “Gems here feel more...relaxed, I guess. And there’s a lot of new stuff that I’ve never seen before.”

“I guess that Homeworld place you all come from is pretty dull compared to here,” Vidalia remarked.

Spinel lowered her gaze. “Very dull.”

Vidalia smirked behind her beverage mug. “Has Greg spoiled you rotten yet?”

Greg let out something between a cough and a laugh as Spinel furrowed her brow in confusion. “What’s that mean?” she asked.

“Oh, nothing,” Vidalia deflected innocently. “Just curious.”

The conversation lasted late into the afternoon, well after the leftover pizza had gone cold. Greg and Vidalia were glad to involve Spinel in whatever they were talking about, but it was a little hard to keep up. She had already interacted with so many others today, to the point where it was a struggle to provide any input, and while they seemed to accept anything she said, she didn’t want to take any chances. Being quiet was safer.

By the time the sky started to darken, Spinel could tell that she had about reached her limit. Her body was starting to feel heavy, even down to her eyelids, and her head buzzed with exhaustion. She tried to ignore it, leaning back against the “couch” they were sitting on and hoping that would be enough to last her a little while longer. 

Miraculously, Greg noticed the time only a few minutes later, saving her from the potential embarrassment. “Looks like it’s getting late,” he observed.

Vidalia twisted around to look out the window herself, surprised. “Huh, time flies.”

“Well, I don’t wanna keep you if you have things to do.” Greg rose to his feet, and Spinel followed as quickly as she could. “Thanks for dinner, V.”

Vidalia stood up and stretched, popping her back. “It was the least I could do. You know, since you wouldn't accept my money.” She said the last phrase rather pointedly, glaring at him.

Greg winked, unbothered. “Better get used to it.”

Vidalia rolled her eyes, but her smile was friendly as she moved towards the door to open it for them. “Thanks again!”

Spinel waved as she was led out into the open air, feeling a tad bit lighter as Vidalia returned it before closing the door. She rather liked this human. Vidalia reminded her of a slightly louder and more sarcastic version of Greg.

Speaking of Greg, he was slouching a little more than usual as they trudged down the concrete path. “I’m pretty beat. How about you?”

“Mhm,” Spinel hummed in reply, trying to blink exhaustion out of her eyes. She felt pathetic, getting tired over something as trivial as socializing. She used to be so good at it, and now she couldn’t talk to more than three people in one day without needing a break. It was annoying.

“You can try sleeping, if you want. It’s supposed to help if you’re tired.”

“What even is it?”

Greg thought for a moment. “It’s...sort of like a human’s way of going into low-power mode, although gems can do it too. Us humans need it so we don’t get tired during the day. We fall asleep at night, and next thing we know it’s the morning and we’re up and at ‘em again.”

Spinel perked up slightly in interest. “Wait, so you don’t remember anything that happens while you’re sleeping? It’s like a...a time skip?”

“Yup,” Greg confirmed.

_That_ got her attention. Not only would she be able to recharge, but she would also be skipping those painful hours of being alone in the dark? This “sleep” didn’t seem like such a bad idea after all. “How do ya do it?” she found herself asking.

Greg appeared to like her enthusiasm. “I’ll show you when we get back. We’ll both be good and tired by then.”

The walk was agonizing. At that point, Spinel was content with sleeping in the middle of the path they were following if it meant she wouldn’t be tired anymore, but Greg had been rather against the idea when she voiced it. Sidewalks were apparently dangerous to sleep on, and not very comfortable. Spinel reluctantly gave in, only because she wanted it to be a decent experience.

The van had never looked more inviting than it did now. Spinel crawled inside as soon as Greg pulled the door open, basking in the low ceiling and compact layout. After everything, she was grateful for some form of a familiar environment, and she almost melted into a puddle of tangled limbs from it all.

Greg was rearranging the blankets on the mattress, pulling some back and smoothing others out. He then patted the spot he had freed up for her. “First thing’s to lay down.”

Spinel obeyed, falling backwards with enough precision for her to land spread-eagled with her head directly on the mass of pillows. The way the mattress supported her weight was different, but welcomed all the same. “Now what?”

“Then you just...close your eyes and let yourself drift off, if that makes sense.”

Spinel allowed her eyes to close. “Like this?” she asked for approval.

“Almost got it.” She watched as Greg knelt down and began drawing up the blankets around her. “Sleep sort of happens spontaneously, but it helps to not move around too much or think about things that make you nervous.”

Spinel wasn’t sure if she liked the sound of the whole “not moving” thing, but it certainly beat consciously sitting in the dark all night. Now, “not thinking” was a different story. These days it was hard to not worry over every little thing she did. “That’s a lotta work just to sleep.”

“You can try focusing on things you like, or something you find relaxing,” Greg suggested. “Maybe sitting here is relaxing to you?”

Spinel wasn’t sure if this was how “relaxed” was supposed to feel, but she supposed it was kind of nice, lying on something soft after running back and forth across town all day. “Beats the sidewalk, I guess,” she jested drowsily.

With a laugh, Greg pulled himself to his feet. “I gotta head inside for something, but I’ll be back in a few minutes. If you fall asleep before I get back, I’ll see you in the morning, okay?”

“Yeah.” Spinel was a little nervous at being left alone, but she tried to squish that feeling down before it could manifest into anything more. She needed to figure out this sleep thing. 

Rustling around for a minute, Spinel eventually found a position on her side that wasn’t too bad. Okay, that was progress, but now came the harder part. She closed her eyes and, per Greg’s instruction, tried to clear her mind of everything besides what she liked.

What exactly did she like? She scoured her mind, trying to think of something. Games were an immediate go-to, but it made her think of that game, which made her think of Pink, which made her think of the garden, which made her think of six thousand years of complete isolation, and now she could feel the anxiety that came with being alone threatening to make an appearance. Groaning in frustration, she abruptly flipped over as if to refresh herself, stuffing that whole disaster deep into her gem.

Alright, attempt two. Spinel made sure to avoid any of those topics and went after something more recent. Surprisingly, her mind drifted to the time she had spent with Lapis, Peridot, and Bismuth at the arcade. She recalled how friendly they had been, both with each other and with her. She thought of their proud, good-natured laughter, then of Vidalia’s crooked but genuine smile, and most of all of Greg’s unending patience. He was definitely a saint, no question.

Greg had said it was okay for her to spill anything that was bothering her. But, Spinel had kept the worst of it tucked away, and everything had turned out...fine. She didn’t have to fear being judged or invalidated for feeling a certain way. There was no terrifying emotional attachment that came with sharing her darkest fears. There was no feeling of selfishly burdening someone else with her problems. She had given them all the Spinel they wanted to see: a little shy, a little emotional, maybe even a _little_ traumatized, but not damaged beyond repair. And that was perfectly fine with her; it wasn’t like anyone would want the real Spinel, anyway. Maybe she could learn to forget the real Spinel, too.

She fell asleep, pretending to be content with this.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The calm before the storm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mmmmm that's a nice amount of fluff I got here.
> 
> It'd be a shame if something happened to it UwU

Humming to himself, Greg swept away the few dying leaves that drifted onto the concrete. Once he reached the grass, he propped up his broom and swiped away stray hairs that had been blown into his face by the wind. Normally he wouldn’t be doing chores so early, but he figured since the weather was so pleasant he might as well be out enjoying it. Besides, he didn’t want to disturb his guest with any noise he could stir up in the van.

_Speaking of..._ He took a moment to check on the still-sleeping gem inside. Spinel’s arms were snaked around the pillow, hugging it close to her form, while the rest of her was still swaddled in the blankets he had tucked her in with the night before. She almost looked peaceful, but the tense, solemn expression on her face depicted otherwise. It seemed that even in rest she couldn’t escape the constant bombardment of all the things that bothered her.

And there definitely were some. Taking Spinel around town the day prior had gone smoothly for the most part, but it was easy to tell that she had in no way gotten accustomed to Earth, or the people living on it. The way she carried herself said it all: Greg was sure she’d nearly crushed his hand from how hard she clung to it on a few occasions. The absentminded hair-pulling was still present, too, along with nervous foot-tapping and a trembling form that never quite stood still.

But, while watching her playing around with Lapis, Peridot, and Bismuth at the arcade, Greg had seen the tiniest spark of something livelier, _happier,_ underneath the timid shell she hid behind. He hoped that, with encouragement, that would make an appearance more often.

A soft noise suddenly alerted him, and he turned back to see Spinel sitting up in bed, rubbing her eyes lazily with one hand. He quickly dropped the broom and made his way over, not wanting her to panic the second she woke up. He tried not to chuckle at her hair, which had somehow become even more unruly overnight. “Good morning.”

“Mornin’?” Spinel echoed; thankfully she only seemed to be mildly disoriented. As her eyes adjusted to the light, realization started to flicker in them. “Did I do it?”

Greg leaned against the frame of the van. “Sure did. How’d it go?”

There was a pause as Spinel kicked off the blankets and arched her back in a stretch, nearly bending all the way backwards in a rather frightening display of flexibility. “Is it...normal to not remember much?”

“Perfectly normal. Did you dream at all?”

Spinel gave him a funny look. “What’s that?”

Right, gems didn’t know all that came with slumber. “Sometimes, our heads come up with stories that play while we sleep. Usually we remember them because they don’t make any sense.”

“Oh. I don’t think I did that. Is that okay?”

“Of course.” Greg was relieved, admittedly; he wasn’t sure if he had the prowess to further explain such a thing, and the possibility of an off-putting or frightening dream popping up had him a little worried. “Now that we’re both up, is there anything you wanna do today?” 

He picked up on the falter almost instantly as Spinel averted her eyes, starting to fidget. “Uh, I dunno,” she muttered awkwardly. “Whatever you had in mind.”

Greg had anticipated this, naturally. “I don’t have any errands to run, so I figured you could pick. Can be anything you want; heck, we can just hang around here all day.”

“Well, I…” Spinel tensed up again, her pigtails pressed flat against her back. It seemed as though she wanted to continue, but every time she tried her mood deflated before anything could be said. “...It’s kinda dumb,” she finally admitted, and the Greg could practically _see_ her self-esteem drop a little lower.

“Having an opinion isn’t dumb,” he told her kindly.

Spinel, after some more hesitation, visibly braced herself but responded. “Yesterday was...kind of a lot, so I was wondering if there was anything less...busy.” She tensed up further, the rest of her words tumbling out in one breath. “And Lapis said the ocean is nice this time of year and not too many people are around and I haven’t really seen it much yet so I was- I mean we don’t have to-”

As she continued to ramble, Greg was left bewildered and a little saddened. It was far from a troublesome request; the fact that she expected it to be instantly rejected or called “dumb”, in her words, was...concerning. A lot of her behavior was concerning, actually. “We can do that.”

Spinel immediately stopped in her tracks, blinking up at him in surprise. “Really?” 

“Sure, there shouldn’t be too many people over there from the looks of things. We can just have a nice, quiet day.”

And so off they went. Greg led the way, his guitar in one hand while his other was claimed by Spinel’s now-familiar tight grip. Their walk was only briefly detoured by Cat Steven, who nearly tripped them as she skittered underneath their legs, then stopped in her tracks and turned back for affection. Spinel seemed amazed at the fact that Cat Steven actually remembered her, running her spare hand across the cat’s fur.

Greg ultimately decided to take her to the far side of the beach, away from the overseeing eyes of the temple; the last time Spinel and Steven interacted hadn’t exactly turned out well. Once they arrived, Spinel actually strayed a little bit from his side, letting her arm stretch out so she could still hold on to him while admiring the view.

“That’s big,” she remarked, eyes wide.

Greg caught up to her. “Not bad, huh?” Though it was chillier than usual (fall was definitely setting in), the sun was still as bright ever. The ocean stretched out underneath it sparkled with such an intensity it nearly blinded him.

“How far does it go?” Spinel asked, tearing her gaze away to look up at him.

Greg thought for a moment as he stared out across the glittering water. “Thousands of miles, probably,” he answered, stifling a laugh as her eyes grew even larger out of amazement.

It took a decent amount of coaxing, but Greg eventually managed to get Spinel to roam around by herself for a while, even if she didn’t go farther than a few meters. He sat down in the sand, strumming his guitar absentmindedly, as she wandered up and down the shoreline, picking up seashells and staring at seagulls that got a little too close for comfort. She always glanced back at him every few minutes without fail; it was only for a second or two- just a quick check- but it was enough to notice.

The beach was quiet, as expected, but after the relative bustle of yesterday it was a nice break. Company was nice, but Greg enjoyed his quiet time just as much. One of the many things that drew him to Beach City (besides Rose, obviously) was the combination of the familial closeness one would find in a small town and the assortment of niches to have alone time.

The serenity seemed to have an effect on Spinel too. Although she didn’t quite relax, some of the tension left her eyes as she sat on the ground a couple of feet away and started playing with the damp sand around her. She soon discovered that it was fairly moldable, and a few minutes later Greg looked up to see a series of abstract-looking buildings taking form. The craftsmanship was impressive, especially considering she had probably never seen sand before now.

There was a brief incident when a stray wave knocked down a portion of one of the structures on the outside of the build. Spinel glared back in mild annoyance, then forged a small barrier where the water had struck. Greg would have left it at that, but something darker lurking underneath her expression set off his alarm bells.

“No matter,” he appeased her before she could get too upset. “Happens to the best of us.”

Confirming his instincts, Spinel fussed briefly with her pigtails, unsoothed. “I guess…”

Greg smiled at her. “Rebuilding it might turn out better. It’s like I always say; if every porkchop were perfect, we wouldn’t have hotdogs.”

There was a pause. Spinel stared at him as if he had suddenly grown an extra pair of arms. “...What?”

The sheer dumbfoundedness in her voice made him laugh. Right, that was human stuff. “Uh, never mind that last part.”

Spinel didn’t say anything else on the matter; she did seem to be taking his words seriously (the ones she understood, at least) and fixed the damage done to the wall. Greg didn’t even mind the strange look she had given him; he was just relieved she didn’t tumble farther down the pit of self-loathing like she’d continuously done before. 

He wondered what had happened that turned this antagonistic, hyper gem into how she was now. Something felt...wrong in a way that he especially didn’t like, and he didn’t exactly want to jump to conclusions, but some of her behavior hit a little _too_ close to home to be anything good.

He wondered if he even _wanted_ to know.

Spinel was finishing up with one of her towers when the sound of whistling cut clear through the air. Greg knew who it was immediately so it didn’t bother him, but one quick look at Spinel told him that she was much more apprehensive about the new arrival. “It’s alright,” he tried to reassure her. “It’s just a friend of mine. She walks down this route sometimes.”

Sure enough, the whistling grew louder and Barbara Miller came out from around the corner in a chipper mood. Her mailbag bounced against her hip and her blonde curls swayed as she walked briskly down the beach. When she noticed the two already there, she stopped in her tracks. Greg braced himself.

“HEY! GREG UNIVERSE!” Despite being only a few meters away, Barbara practically belted out the greeting at the top of her lungs. Across the town, a flock of birds soared out of a tree, startled.

“...Hi, Barb,” Greg responded with a much quieter voice.

Barbara drew forward, her face split by a toothy grin. “I was wondering what you were up to! I haven’t seen you in days!” Her eyes lit up upon noticing Spinel, who froze at the sudden shift in attention. “Who’s this?”

Greg knew what was about to happen, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. “This is Spinel. She’s hanging out with me for a while.”

Barbara stepped closer and braced her arms on her knees, leaning over slightly. The look on her face was remarkably similar to the one she bore when she met Steven for the first time. “Oh, aren’t you just the _cutest_ little thing?”

Greg bit the inside of his cheek to keep from cracking up as the mailwoman continued to gush over Spinel; the magenta gem looked ready to combust right then and there. “Uh, Spinel, this is Barbara,” he said awkwardly.

“You can just call me Barb, dear.” Barbara grabbed Spinel’s hand and shook it furiously, nearly pulling Spinel straight off the ground as she did so. “Any of Steven’s new gem friends is a friend of mine!”

“You’re scaring her,” Greg spoke up, only half-joking.

Surprisingly, Barbara backed off. “Right, right. Sorry.” Her enthusiasm bounced right back and she turned to Greg instead, beaming. “Well, no wonder you didn’t join us for cards last week; you got yourself a new kid!”

Greg had gotten used to Barbara’s occasionally unanticipated comments, but he still let out a cough in surprise. “Wh- I, uh-”

“Can’t lie to me, Greg!” Barbara teased with a wink. “If I know you, you’ve already got the papers on the way!”

“That’s-”

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure they’re extra taken care of once they get here.” Barbara pulled a clipboard out of her bag, the pen dangling from a string attached to it. “Anyway, I’d love to chat, but I gotta get this route done. With Jamie on sick leave, I’m already behind as it is.”

“Oh, alright.” Greg internally sighed in relief. “Might have to take a rain check for next week, too.”

“I’ll spare your mail this time,” Barbara promised, waving him off. “Vidalia and I are parents; we understand. Bye bye now!”

Spinel waited until Barbara had disappeared to shudder quietly, looking a little spooked. “That was...something.”

Greg smiled sympathetically. “Really she’s very nice, she just gets...easily excited.”

“What’s a ‘kid’?” Spinel asked as an afterthought.

“Uh, don’t worry about it.”

After a while, Spinel finally finished with her sandcastle and stepped back to observe. It was definitely one of the best ones Greg had seen, with it being nearly three feet tall and covered in windows and intricate detail work. Spinel didn’t quite seem to share the same sentiments, though. She frowned at some slight mistake he couldn’t see, and even when he complimented the structure, she hunched over defensively with a look that told him she didn’t believe it one bit.

The bad feeling grew more insistent.

\--

“The Earth’s bigger than I thought it was.”

Spinel’s voice startled Greg mid-song; despite her having been standing next to him for a good half hour, she hadn’t said a word all that time. He didn’t pay any mind to it before, but an odd feeling crept up his spine now as he looked her over. The way she stood- hands clasped, posture stiff, face expressionless- was unsettling in a way he couldn’t pinpoint.

“It’s something, isn’t it?” he commented, patting the spot beside him in an invitation for her to sit.

Spinel hesitantly accepted the offer, sitting down and making a noticeable effort to stay out of Greg’s space. “Yeah.”

“You like the ocean?”

A nod. “It’s pretty.” She looked at him curiously. “Is it really as big as you said?”

“Yep.”

“That much water is just sitting here, and it’s so big that humans gave it a name?”

“Mhm.” A smirk passed Greg’s visage before he could stop himself. “What if I told you there was more than one?”

Spinel’s head snapped around. “There is?”

“If my geography knowledge still holds up,” Greg held up five fingers, “then there are five of ‘em.”

There was something about the way Spinel’s eyes widened to the size of dinner plates that was incredibly endearing. “And they’re all as big as this one?”

“Not quite as big, but close.”

“No way.” Spinel paused, and suddenly the faintest spark of something new and lively appeared for a split second, long enough for her to correct herself. “No _wave,_ actually.”

Her pun was about as cheesy as a pun could get, but it was unexpected and Greg couldn’t help but snort at it. “Good one.”

The smile on Spinel’s face was crooked and unsure and still the closest thing to pride he had seen yet. Even though it disappeared as quickly as it came, Greg was still delighted to see her mood starting to pick up a bit. “I guess they don’t have much water on Homeworld,” he inferred.

“I don’t think so.” Spinel rested her chin on her knees, which were tucked up to her chest. “But I was never really allowed to go anywhere.”

Greg almost wanted to ask why, but he knew Homeworld was a touchy subject and he didn't want to upset her. “Would you want to travel around if you could?”

Spinel hummed thoughtfully. “Not by myself. Maybe with other people, but...I dunno. Did you ever travel? Is that something humans do?”

“Well, can’t say I’ve flown across galaxies or anything like that, but I’ve been around parts of Earth. Nothing too impressive.” Greg chose to omit the time he was abducted and taken several lightyears away to be put into a human zoo. That probably wouldn’t bode over well.

Spinel seemed to be curious regardless. “All by yourself?”

“For the most part.”

“...Did it...ever get lonely?”

Greg halted his train of thought, a little surprised that she had asked him that considering loneliness was also a sensitive topic. There was a hint of unspoken agony swimming in that magenta gaze that made him question whether or not he should answer at all.

“It did sometimes,” he admitted, “but it was a lot better than what I had before. And because I did it, I met a ton of nice people, and then I found Beach City to settle down in, so I’d say it was pretty worth it.”

Spinel nodded slowly, looking a little better than she did a few seconds ago. “Why’d ya do it?”

“Well, uh…” _Speaking of sore subjects…_ “My parents didn’t really like that I wanted to be a musician, so one day I decided that I was going to go out and be one, no matter what they said.”

It was a very, very watered down version of the events that actually transpired, but it seemed to give Spinel enough context. “What’s a musician?” she asked next.

“Someone who goes around playing music for people. Writing their own songs, having concerts, things like that.”

Spinel perked up at this. “You wrote your own?”

Greg chuckled sheepishly. “Yeah, for a while. They didn’t get too much attention, but I had fun doing it when it was just me writing-”

“Can ya play one?” Spinel requested suddenly. She then tensed up with a flustered blush, hastily tacking on a “please?” to the end of her question.

“Well…” Greg rubbed the back of his neck, pondering it. It wasn’t that he was embarrassed- okay, maybe a little- but he didn’t want her expectations to be too high. “It’s not exactly Mozart, kiddo.”

Spinel scooted a little bit closer, staring at him expectantly, and she looked so genuinely interested that he just could _not_ say no to her. He laughed, picking up his guitar. “Alright, you’ve convinced me.”

He strummed a little, figuring out the right chords, and prayed that his voice didn’t crack too much. _“I know I’m not that tall…”_

Spinel’s giggle nearly made him stop playing, clutch his heart and double over because oh God it was one of the most precious things he had ever heard in his life. He managed to keep it together, but only just enough to not fly off tempo. He had to avoid her awed stare that was very reminiscent of the way Steven looked at him when he was little, knowing that would probably break him. At least the song was short.

He finished the song with a flourish, or the best flourish he could with the guitar he had, and he laughed as she applauded. “Thank you, I’ll be here all night. It...does sound better in a studio, though.”

“I liked it,” Spinel stated, and suddenly the little happy spark became a flame, her face adorned with a small but beautiful smile that looked like it should always be there. “Do ya have any more?”

“...I got a few,” Greg responded cryptically. 

He was about to delve into his acoustic version of “Comet” when he suddenly heard the distant clanging of...something. It wasn’t quite metal-on-metal, but it was harsh enough to be heard over the sounds of waves and seagulls.

Spinel raised her head, pigtails alert. “You hear that too, right?”

“Yeah.” Greg sat up a little straighter as the noises grew louder. It sounded like...fighting?

A thin, lanky figure suddenly ran into view from around the beach house side of the cliff. It was Pearl, looking a little more banged up than usual and clutching her spear tightly in her hands. She fired bolts of light at something out of view, then leaped out of the way as a huge, sparking orange blur came charging in her direction.

The two jumped to their feet. “What the-” Spinel began.

The blur skidded across the beach, kicking up plumes of sand, before unfolding itself. Greg tensed up as a massive orange gem rose from the dust, shaking particles out of her giant mass of white hair. Her yellow eyes were blazing with fury, lip curled into a sneer.

Pearl approached, holding her spear out in front of her with the intention to stab. “You can’t win, Jasper!” she shouted, panting slightly. “Now please, just leave this town alone!”

The other gem, who was apparently Jasper, only scoffed. “You really think you can beat me? You’re just a _Pearl!_ You can’t-”

She paused, finally taking notice of their involuntary audience. Greg stiffened as her hostile gaze landed on him, hoping that she would ignore him like most invading gems did. Something told him this was the last gem he needed to cross.

Pearl suddenly raced up to defend them in case the opposing gem decided to strike. She glanced back and gave them an awkward wave. “Uh, hello, you two! You might want to stand back while we’re-”

She was interrupted by a low laugh from Jasper, who, to Greg’s horror, had taken notice of Spinel standing next to him. “Well, look who we have here,” the large gem growled with a nasty glint in her eye.

Greg felt Spinel latch onto his arm as she flinched back.

“I’ve heard a lot about you, pipsqueak. Rumor has it there’s a pretty big reward on your head.” With a flash of light, a crystalline helmet appeared on Jasper’s head, the front protruding outwards like a hammer. “How about you hold still?”

“Get back!” Pearl screeched.

Greg obeyed without a second thought, grabbing Spinel’s hand and leading her several steps away from the fight. He cringed as Pearl narrowly missed getting headbutted by Jasper’s helmet. Aquamarine had been distracted and wasn’t the most physically intimidating, but this gem, who was easily twice his size, could very well kill him with a single punch.

Spinel, who had looked rather queasy throughout the entire interaction, started to visibly panic. “I- I didn’t-” Her other hand found its way into her hair and tugged haphazardly. “It happened again. I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-”

“Woah, woah-” Something seized control of Greg before he could even think, and he leaned down to her level to try and untangle her hand as gently as he could. She had fallen hard from the good mood she had not too long ago. “Hey, it’s alright. You don’t need to apologize.”

Spinel didn’t seem to hear him, and the way her eyes started to gloss over was killing him inside. “She was looking for me. If I wasn’t here-”

“It’s not your fault, kiddo. Don’t worry about it, we’ll sort it out.”

If Spinel was comforted by this at all, then it was immediately thrown out the window as she raised her head and shrieked. “Look out!”

Greg turned back just in time to see Jasper in mid-air, holding up a massive boulder that she had uprooted from its spot on the beach. She grinned maniacally, a fire in her eyes, before bending forward and hurling it at the two with impossible strength.

Almost instinctively, Greg pushed Spinel away and desperately threw himself off to the side, nearly knocking the wind out of himself. A huge thud shook the earth not even a second later, rattling his bones and showering him in puffs of sand. Heart pounding in his ears, his eyes shot open and he felt over himself just to make sure he was actually still alive. Nothing was broken; he was fine, somehow.

Before he could even bask in the sheer luck he had, another thud made him sit bolt upright. Jasper had touched back down, and she looked none too pleased.

“Stupid human,” she spat, knocking away Pearl as if she were a mere fly buzzing around her face. 

Greg swallowed hard, feeling her piercing gaze paralyze him. He was in for it now, wasn’t he?

“You puny earthlings just can’t seem to understand.” Jasper resummoned her helmet, the glare of the sun making her even more intimidating. 

“Anything that gets in my way…” Her fists clenched and crackled with energy. “...gets _crushed!”_

Greg could only watch in horror as Jasper curled back into the ball of pure energy and blazed across the beach, heading right for him. Too hyped up on adrenaline to think straight, too freaked out to move or do anything- not that it would make a difference- he had no choice but to brace himself for impact. This was going to hurt.

_“Stay away from him!”_

Greg was barely starting to feel the tips of his hair singing when something small and pink suddenly slammed into Jasper full-force, knocking her away with ease. The massive gem crashed into the cliff face, stumbling forward but not quite falling over. She looked around, dazed. “Who- wha-?”

She didn’t even have time to process before Spinel, pigtails spiked and teeth clenched in a snarl, tackled her with the fury of a rabid animal. The magenta gem’s elongated limbs wrapped around the other like boa constrictors, yanking and clawing at anything she could reach. It was almost more unnerving to Greg than the orange ball of death that had been charging at him just seconds before.

“You little-” The terrifying and imposing warrior was now flailing around like a panicked cat as she tried to pry Spinel off of her. It quickly became apparent that any attempts to pull off an arm or a leg were futile, as Spinel easily slipped out of her grasp. “Get _off!”_

“What’s the matter?” Spinel hissed, who looked to be enjoying this a bit too much. “Can’t deal with a little ol’ pipsqueak like me?”

Jasper only roared incoherently in response. Amidst the struggle, she managed to get her hand on Spinel’s gem and slammed her to the ground by her chest. This victory was short-lived, however. The first kick caught Jasper directly in the chin, snapping her head back, while the second made contact with her torso and sent her skidding across the sand. She lay there, covered in scratches, yet her eyes still blazed with immeasurable fury.

But Spinel was not quite finished with her revenge yet. She enlarged her fists until they were twice her size and seized Jasper before she even had a chance to get up. She spun them around, faster and faster until she resembled a spinning top and then let go with an enraged cry, sending Jasper sailing high over Pearl’s head and into the ocean stretched out before them. They lost sight of her before she even hit the water.

For a moment, the only sound was the faint crashing of waves. Spinel stood on the shoreline, slowly shrinking down to her normal height as she panted slightly. Greg was still trying to process what had happened, how he was alive, how Jasper had been completely defeated, how Spinel had saved him from what was probably a very unpleasant way to go-

Pearl finally broke the silence, sending her spear back into her gem. “Well, that ended...a lot better than I thought it would.”

It was as if a switch had been flicked. Spinel, who had looked ready to kill on sight, suddenly snapped back into the meek and overly-apologetic being Greg was more familiar with. She whipped around and raced towards him, hands clasping her gem. “I-I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to- she went crazy because of me- she could’ve hurt someone, she could’ve _killed_ you- I-I didn’t mean for this to-”

Greg stopped her, holding his hands out to get her attention. “Hey, it’s alright! I’m fine, we’re all fine. No one got hurt.”

“I shouldn’t have been here, she got so mad because she saw me-”

“You didn’t do anything wrong,” Greg tried to reassure her. “From the looks of things, she was mad even before she was us standing there.”

“Greg’s right,” Pearl chimed in. “Jasper is...very resistant to Steven’s ways. Often we see her trying to stir up trouble in town or in Little Homeworld. By the time we reached you two, I’d been chasing her for a good while. That was why she was so angry.

“Although,” the pale gem interjected herself, “it’s strange that she seemed to know who you are, Spinel, and about that supposed ‘reward’ on you. Jasper hasn’t been on Homeworld in quite a while, last I checked. We might have to ask that Aquamarine a few questions when the others return. I’d ask Jasper directly, but, well…”

Spinel flinched. “Sorry.”

Pearl blinked, then hastily backtracked. “No, no, you did very well! Not many gems can say they faced Jasper and survived unpoofed.”

“See? You did good,” Greg emphasized.

They said goodbye to Pearl and decided to head home, not willing to encounter anything else for the day. Spinel seemed to feel a little better about the ordeal, but she still turned and scanned him thoroughly as soon as they reached concrete. “And you’re _sure_ you’re okay?”

Greg laughed. “I’m fine, I promise. Definitely would have been a lot less okay if you hadn’t stepped in, though, so thanks for that.”

He ruffled her hair a little, and even though she didn’t duck away from the gesture, she still looked fairly downtrodden. Greg internally sighed in disappointment- not at her, of course, but at the universe for continuing to kick her down every time her mood lifted. At this rate, he wanted just one day where she could finally _relax_ in a safe, stable environment, away from the horrible things she always thought about herself or angry gems trying to poof her. That was not going to come easy, though.

There had been progress made, however. He had gotten a smile and a laugh out of her; that was something he hadn’t seen coming so early on. He hadn’t believed he was making much of an impact on her before today, but seeing her beginning to enjoy herself and, more notably, going toe-to-toe with a fighting gem that threatened his existence, made him believe otherwise. 

And Greg certainly hadn’t expected to get attached to her so quickly, but he found himself enjoying her presence more and more. These days felt less like an after-effect of Empty Nest Syndrome and more like the good old days when Steven lived with him, when they’d sit for hours watching the ocean and play music and eat ice cream and talk about nonsense. And while he was _so proud_ of Steven for being such an _amazing_ and _caring_ person and it was _impossible_ to love his son any more or less, sometimes Greg missed the simpler times when he didn’t have to fret over his only family traveling across literal galaxies. When his son was just his son, and didn’t have the pressure of making decisions and having millions of gems relying on him to make the right one. He could never ask Steven to just _stop_ doing that, but...being a dad had been the most rewarding thing he’d ever done by far. If Greg was to ever be given the opportunity to open his home and heart to someone else, to someone who needed it, he’d do it a thousand times over. And he might have found that someone. 

Of course, Spinel would have to want to stick around as well. He’d never force her into something like that; he knew what _that_ was like. But, if she genuinely wanted it, then he would definitely be open to fulfilling that role again. 

A new kid, huh? That didn’t seem like such a bad idea.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Spinel finally gets that hug she's been needing.
> 
> (Trigger Warnings: panic attack, self-harm, implied/referenced abuse)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh god here we go

Spinel had no idea what to do.

The entire day had been a rollercoaster as far as her emotional state went. Sleeping had gone rather well; she had actually woken up in...not a “good” mood, per say, but a much better mood than she was used to. Then they had gone to look at the ocean, and it was supposed to be a pleasant experience, but for some reason her spirits had decided to plummet later that morning. She’d almost had a breakdown over a _sandcastle,_ of all things.

Surprisingly, things had started to pick up for a little while after that. It had been a long time since Spinel was able to just sit down and talk to someone without worrying about a hundred things at once. Though the feeling was relative, those few hours were the happiest she’d been in months.

And then Jasper had decided to make her appearance. Spinel wondered if she should even bother with going outside anymore, seeing as how every time she did, there was always some other gem out to get her. Greg didn’t deserve to get caught up in her problems, and Jasper had had the absolute nerve to try and attack him just because he was there. Spinel had somewhat surprised herself with how angry she had gotten on his behalf. At the time, she hadn’t been sure where that thirst for vengeance had come from.

But, now that they were back at the van and Greg had retired for the night, Spinel knew exactly what was happening; she was getting attached to him.

The revelation terrified her. Spinel thought she was more ready for this. Despite her best efforts, she knew her stupid clingy self was going to get attached eventually, but now that the situation was _here_ she wanted to run as far away as possible. It didn’t feel like a blessing; it felt like a trap: a trap that would end in her alone and heartbroken yet again once she fell for it.

Even if it had been slim, the hope that she would be accepted like this felt so stupid now. Bottling up her feelings hadn’t worked the last time she tried, so why did she think it was going to now? 

But Greg was so kind to her. Although Spinel didn’t know him that well yet, judging by the way everyone else talked about him, he didn’t seem like the type of person to pull something like...that.

But the Diamonds had seemed nice at first. _Pink_ had seemed nice at first. And look where that had gotten her.

Spinel huffed in frustration, resting her head on the wall of the van, banging it a little harder than what was comfortable in the process. Going back and forth between wanting love and running from it was awful. She wished she could just pick a side and stick to it because this was honestly exhausting. Maybe she should sleep again; it seemed to work the last time she was tired. Anything to give herself a break for a little while.

Spinel took a quick peek outside, just to make sure Greg was still nearby, before lying down on the mattress. She imitated the way he had covered her with the blanket, although it didn’t have quite the same effect as when he’d done it, and stared up at the low ceiling. Now all she had to do was recreate whatever she had done last night and she would be all set. She didn’t exactly remember how she had fallen asleep the first time: something about trying to relax, although she wasn’t really good at that.

Spinel sighed. She just couldn’t be a normal gem about this, could she? 

Okay, things she liked. Surely that wasn’t too hard; besides Jasper’s unfortunate arrival, the day had been fairly pleasant. Just being near someone without having anything important to do had been nice. Greg was oddly easy to make conversation with, although why she wasn’t exactly sure. The songs he played were nice, too; he wasn’t the “best” singer by professional standards, but there was something charming about it that she enjoyed regardless, probably even more than anything considered “perfect”.

_You’re making a mistake._

Spinel flinched. She really was attached to him, wasn’t she? No matter what, she never learned her lesson.

_He’ll just leave you like everyone else already has._

Spinel abruptly turned over onto her side, gritting her teeth in anger and wishing that her thoughts would leave her alone for once. It was getting increasingly difficult having to deal with them drilling things that she already knew into her head every five minutes.

_Why bother?_

Spinel squeezed her eyes shut, taking the pillow and slamming it over her head. She had been just fine earlier, why did she suddenly want to have a breakdown now? She absolutely could not do that in front of Greg; that was practically a death sentence. That was the last thing she needed. That was...

She just needed to sleep. Sleeping meant not thinking about anything for a while, and she didn’t have the mental strength to deal with herself right now. Spinel forced her form to be still and stuffed down everything raging about in her head as far as she could.

Don’t think about anything.

Don’t think about anything.

Don’t think about anything…

...

...Why was it so quiet?

The Earth was never this quiet. Even when there was no one around, she could always hear the wind rustling nearby trees or other organic animals calling out to each other. 

The last time anything had been so deafeningly silent was…

Feeling rather unnerved, Spinel allowed her eyes to open again, and nothing, _nothing_ could compare to the sudden wave of terror that crashed over her, stealing the breath from her nonexistent lungs.

What.

The sky was an inky black, casting her into almost complete darkness, and was dotted by horrifyingly-familiar pinpricks of stars that glittered coldly overhead.

_What._

Dried, dead plants snaked up and down the faded staircase that led to the warp pad, which lay dull and lifeless in the same way it had always been. An image that had been burned into the backs of her eyelids for centuries.

_Whatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhat-_

Spinel’s breathing quickened, her hands trembling violently as she peeled them apart to grip at her arms. Why was she here, _how did she get here?_ She’d left the garden; she had seen Steven’s message and vowed to never come back as long as she lived. There was no way, absolutely _no way-_

Hot, stinging tears welled up in her eyes, and her choppy gasps were soon accompanied by soft whimpers of distress. Sickeningly familiar sensations- the confusion, the soreness of standing still for millennia, the looming fear of having been left behind- all crashed into her like a tidal wave. What was she supposed to do? Did someone put her here? What if someone left her here, left her all alone like she did, left her to rot away and be forgotten again, she couldn’t handle the same betrayal twice, she couldn’t stand here for another _six thousand years,_ what was she going to do-

She had to get out of here.

Spinel latched onto that single fleeting thought and sprang into action, but when she tried to move her foot it was suddenly jerked back into place. Her gaze snapped down to the vines that had long since wrapped around her legs, their touch suddenly making her skin crawl.

_“C’mon-!”_ Her voice was wracked with fear as she tried again, pulling with all the strength she had. She had managed to break free from their grasp before, but this time they weren’t as eager to let go. The realization that this wasn’t her personal choice this time, that she _couldn’t move,_ started to sink in, driving her further into a panic.

The dirt around Spinel suddenly cracked and crumbled, and she let out a terrified scream as more vines shot out of the soil, latched on to her legs and pulled, _pulled_ and she was nearly sent to the ground from the sheer force of it. She tried to run again, but her boots were already fastened down and her knees were locked into place. Frantically she shot her arms out and reached for a nearby pillar to try and tug herself free, but the vines instead curled hungrily around her fingers until she had no choice but to pull them away.

“No, no-“ She could barely choke out words through her sobs; she hadn’t even realized she was crying. Her entire lower body was held in place now, and the vines were now stretching over her gem, digging into it almost painfully. She tore violently at the ones that reached for her arms, but every time she did two more would take their place and soon her left wrist was wrenched back and pinned to her side. “No, no, no, not again-”

As she ripped at the vines that consumed her gem and reached for her neck, the horrifying realization that she was never going to get free set in. She was destined to become part of the garden’s architecture for the rest of her immortal life.

And no one knew she was there.

“Stop, stop it! Stop it! Help!” By some miracle, Spinel managed to yank one arm free and reached desperately for the warp pad, hoping that _somebody_ would suddenly materialize and rush forward to save her. _“Someone, help! HELP!”_

But the crystal platform remained cold and dead, mocking her, even as the vines pulled her arm back into their clutches and snaked cruelly over her face.

And suddenly it was completely dark, someone was screaming- was it her?- and the upper half of her body reared up but the roots were still wrapped around her legs _trying to pull her back down._ She kicked out wildly, somehow managing to free herself, but she had to get out of the garden before they came back and _trapped her there forever,_ she couldn’t see the warp pad, _she couldn’t see at all,_ where was she-

Light suddenly flooded her vision, nearly blinding her in the process. Spinel forgot her desperate escape in an instant and instead pressed herself against the wall- wait, wall?

The roots were gone. Instead of dusty soil, she was sitting on something soft and plush. There were no vines climbing slowly up her form, intending to hold her hostage for another six millennia, nor was there a vast stretch of empty, empty space laid out before her. 

Greg was halfway over the seat of the van, some sort of metal object clasped tight in his fist. Locks of frazzled hair fell over his shoulders, and he was staring at her as if he had just seen a ghost. The overhead light flickered slightly, but it was still bright enough for her to see the interior of the van around her instead of the choking darkness she had been caught in just moments before.

...What?

Greg appeared to slip out of his shocked state and carefully set whatever weapon he had down on the seat. “Woah, you okay?”

Spinel was most definitely not okay. “What happened?” she croaked out, feeling herself shaking as she wrung out her hands.

“Wish I could tell you. I just woke up and heard you screaming.” Greg frowned in concern. “You alright? You aren’t looking so good there.”

Spinel froze in place. Oh no, she had woken him up, hadn’t she? She had no idea what was going on and frankly she was terrified of whatever had just happened, but all of that seemed so insignificant compared to the horror she was feeling now. He was probably really, really mad at her. She couldn’t hear what Greg was saying anymore- it was all noise- and she could still tell he was angry. It wasn’t obvious, but it hadn’t been obvious with _them,_ either. They had always hid their annoyance with her, keeping it a secret until they were alone, until there was no one around to stop them from doing whatever they wanted.

Greg stepped toward her, but all Spinel saw were black, talon-like nails drawing closer, reaching ever so slowly for her gem-

Spinel shrieked, scrambling backwards in a poor attempt to escape, and ended up slamming her back into the wall instead. The realization that she had basically cornered herself only made everything worse. The world around her started to swirl and dim to grey, and with it went her senses. She suddenly couldn’t feel the ground underneath her anymore, her stomach churned as she drifted with only the pricking of something tight and thorned wrapping around her legs.

No no no no no no no no no not now, _not now._ She couldn’t lose herself here, they always got so angry at her when she spiraled like this, _please calm down._ Frantically her hands felt around desperately for someone or something to ground her, chest tightening until her gem throbbed when she felt nothing of the sort. She was completely alone, and as a last resort her hands flew up to her pigtails and she pulled as hard as she could, not even caring if she ended up poofing herself.

The sharp pain rippled throughout her scalp, and for a brief moment Spinel could hear her own rapid gasps for air before she was plunged back into panic again, _just get a hold of yourself._ She pulled harder and harder still, _get a grip get a grip,_ but all she could feel was any semblance of control she had left slipping through her fingers, until she was harshly pounding her form with balled-up fists, _please stop it stop it STOP IT,_ but there was nothing she could do anymore, she wanted to cry but the pure adrenaline coursing through her didn’t even allow that luxury, she couldn’t control _anything,_ this was it this was it this was the end, they were going to see her like this they were going to be so so mad at her they were going to hurt her again she was going to be thrown out she couldn’t handle being all alone again please please someone help but there was no one she was _alone_ everything hurt but she couldn’t feel anything at all there was nothing there she couldn’t breathe why couldn’t she breathe she was _alone_ was she back in the garden again she couldn’t do this she couldn’t exist like this she wanted everything to stop please stop please stop _alone alone alone alone-_

A voice started to cut through the fog and she tried to focus on it, she didn’t even care who it was because someone was _there,_ she was holding on to what felt like an arm- when did that get there- and she clung to it as tightly as she dared, praying to everything she knew that whoever it was wouldn’t leave her like this.

“-eep breaths, in through your nose, out through your mouth.” Stars, they sounded so familiar but she was way too frazzled to think of a name. She couldn’t even understand what they were saying until about the third attempt, and even then it was so hard to follow their instructions since for some reason she just couldn’t slow down her breathing, why did she feel so dizzy all of a sudden what was happening-

A hand slipped into hers and squeezed it gently, and she wanted to cry. “You’re doing fine, keep going. You’re just having a panic attack, kiddo. Have you had one before?”

Throughout all of her shaking and hiccuping, she somehow found it in her to nod in response. She’d felt this before, back on- wait don’t think about that right now.

“Alright, is there anything you need?”

She absolutely could _not_ be left alone to deal with this herself. Without even meaning for it to, icy panic started to take hold of her again and she clung to the hand even tighter somehow. “Please- please don’t leave,” she begged, not even caring how desperate she sounded.

“I won’t,” they soothed immediately. “I’m gonna ride this out with you, okay? It won’t take long, it’ll be over in a few minutes.”

The tiniest flare of relief surged in her gem. “Okay.”

“What’s your name?”

She didn’t even bother questioning why they had asked that. “Spinel,” she recited instantly.

“Okay, good. Do you know where you are?”

“I-” Where was she? Oh no, she couldn’t remember. The garden didn’t make sense and it was too cramped for Homeworld, but she drew a blank on everything else, and now she was starting to freak out again. “I-I don’t know-”

“You’re alright, you’re perfectly safe. Take a few deep breaths and try again.”

Spinel obeyed, inhaling shakily through her nose. It was getting easier. “...Earth. I’m on Earth.”

“There you go! You’re doing great.” They sounded so genuinely proud of her and Spinel couldn’t help but feel a little better. “Now what’s my name?”

Spinel blurted out the first name that sprang to mind, all of it tumbling out in one breath. “Umgreguniverse.”

A tiny laugh. “Close enough. Good job, just keep breathing for now, okay? You’re almost out of the woods here. That’s it, nice and slow.”

The seconds dragged by in agony, but Spinel managed to, slowly but surely, regain control of her form. Greg didn’t stray an inch from her side the entire time, and while she appreciated it immensely, intense shame started to creep up on her the calmer she got. She’d already taken up so much of his time and effort; he didn’t have to sit with her while she freaked out over something stupid.

“Sorry,” she managed at one point, “for...overreacting like this.”

“You’re not overreacting,” came the reply. “I’m not mad at you, I promise.”

Spinel was hardly comforted by this, however, and continued to ramble. “I didn’t mean to wake you up, I don’t- I don’t know what I was-”

Greg interrupted before she could slip off the edge again. “Hey, don’t worry about me. I’m perfectly fine. You’re more important right now.”

No, she wasn’t. She wasn’t important at all, and the fact that she was making such a big deal out of nothing made her feel like the most revolting gem in the universe. Such an awful, nasty gem, making everyone else deal with her problems yet again.

“How are we doing?” Greg spoke up after a while.

Spinel wanted nothing more than to curl up in a corner and bawl her eyes out, but she swallowed thickly and held it together. She’d already made a scene as it is. “Better.”

“Better? That’s good.” Greg’s voice was soft. “Do you remember what happened?”

“I-” Spinel shuddered at the memory of the roots curling around her legs, fastening her to the floor. She struggled to focus on the grip on her hand instead, hoping that it would help her ground herself. She couldn’t fly off the handle again. “I- I don’t know. It was...some sort of…” she trailed off, not exactly wanting to give details, “...vision, or something.”

“‘Vision?’” Greg thought for a moment, then his eyes cleared up in sudden understanding. “Oh, I see. I think you had a bad dream there, kiddo.”

Spinel tensed. “That’s what that was?” He had mentioned dreams before and how they could be off-putting sometimes, but that was so much worse than she could have imagined. Why would anyone want to sleep if something like that was going to happen?

“Sounds like it.” Greg gently patted her hand. “They pop up sometimes when we’re scared or stressed out. Some of them are worse than others. Seems like you had a pretty bad one, huh?”

Spinel cringed. “Pretty bad” was an understatement. “Mhm.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Spinel frantically shook her head. No, she didn’t want to think about it ever again.

“That’s alright,” Greg said. “Just know that, at the end of the day, it was just a dream, so there's nothing in it that was actually happening.”

“It felt like it was,” Spinel muttered. She could still feel the ghost of the roots tightening around her legs, and she subconsciously pulled her boots off the floor. “It felt real.”

“They do, but it’s just your mind playing tricks on you. There isn’t anything or anyone from it that’s going to come and hurt you, promise.”

Spinel only nodded in response. Greg’s words were a little reassuring, but that didn’t stop her from being ashamed of herself. It was bad enough she had woken him up, but she had also completely and unnecessarily spiraled out of control and he had been forced to pick up the pieces. There was no way he didn’t absolutely despise her now, and even if he didn’t, she was probably nothing but a burden in his eyes. All because she couldn’t control her own stupid emotions.

And now what? Suddenly feeling overwhelmed, a painful lump formed in her throat. Not even sleep was a safe haven for her. She didn’t have anything to turn to now; she didn’t even deserve that. There was no escape for her, no way to relax or feel safe without getting in her own way. Everything was a reminder of how terrible she was and she hated it all almost as much as she hated herself. 

She was _so_ exhausted. She’d been so for a while, but the weight on her shoulders suddenly felt ten times heavier now. Everything was tiring: her breakdowns, her emotions, herself, her existence in general. She wanted it all to _stop._

“...You want a hug?” Greg offered.

Immediately, Spinel felt her form itch in a desperate longing that sent stabs of pain throughout her gem. Oh stars, it had been a good six thousand years since she’d last gotten one and it was such a disgustingly _selfish_ thing to think about but she really _really_ wanted it.

“Are you sure?” Her voice almost gave out on her halfway through.

Greg faced her to open his arms out invitingly, and the way that he looked at her with such genuine kindness almost made her come undone right then and there. “Of course.”

Every voice in Spinel’s head screamed at her not to accept it, that she didn’t deserve it, that she wasn’t even worth something as simple as that, and she was incredibly tired of hearing them. She was going to hate herself no matter what she did, and right now everything was awful and this was the only comfort she was ever going to get. Fine. She didn’t care anymore. She needed _something._ Sniffing piteously, she shakily rose her arms in silent acceptance and leaned into the gesture.

Spinel felt arms wrap around her, and immediately she had to stifle a sob that threatened to escape. She was so disgusting and vile for accepting it but _oh stars_ she couldn’t remember the last time she’d been held like this. It was amazing and warm and reassuring and overwhelming all at the same time and she just wanted to pour her soul out and never look back.

Then a hand reached up and began to gently stroke her hair, as if its owner didn’t despise her for everything she’d done in the past hour and actually, genuinely cared about her. “Just cry it out, sweetheart. It’s okay.”

And that did it. Spinel finally gave up, and let the dam break.

\--

It was 2:38 in the morning when Greg was jolted awake by a bloodcurdling scream right next to his ear. Everything kicked in at once, and he spent a good five to ten seconds in a panicked limbo between flipping on the light and reaching for the waffle iron to use as a weapon.

Eventually, he succeeded in turning the light on and climbed over, although it was more of an uncoordinated scramble than anything. He was barely halfway over the seat when a pair of large eyes met his, sending a chill down his spine, but thankfully there was no sign of an axe murderer or any sort of rogue gem that had broken in. The bed was in shambles though, with one of the blankets having been kicked to the other side of the van and the pillows lying discarded on the floor.

Spinel looked thoroughly terrified despite there being no immediate danger, but Greg already had enough experience to have decent knowledge of what had happened. Just to be safe, he snuck a quick glance out the back window to ensure that nothing outside had spooked her. By the time he turned back, Spinel had completely spiraled into a full-on meltdown, curled up in the corner of the van with her chest heaving, staring wild-eyed at nothing in particular.

Connie had panic attacks sometimes, so Greg had at least some idea of what to do, but that didn’t make it any less unsettling to watch. He tried to keep his distance, but it was increasingly difficult with what could only be described as paternal adrenaline coursing through him, and then she started beating herself on the head and he had no choice but to intervene. Surprisingly, Spinel hadn’t been startled by him grabbing her wrists and instead latched onto his arm with the instincts of a drowning man, yanking him down to sit next to her. It looked like he was there to stay for a while.

It was...hard to watch, to put it lightly. Spinel wore that alarming “about to die” look on her face that was killing him, but the worst part was that there wasn’t much he could do at the moment. She didn’t seem to be hearing him much above the nonsense she muttered between gasps for air. Sometimes it was something about a garden, sometimes it was about being alone, but most of the time it was her apologizing, and not to him.

“I didn’t-“ Spinel choked out at one point, and one look at her glossy eyes told him she wasn’t quite present yet. “I’m sorry- I’ll- I’m sorry, my Diamond-“

Greg felt sick to his stomach. He squeezed her hand a little tighter, hoping to stop some of the shaking. “The Diamonds aren’t here, kiddo. It’s just me. You’re safe.”

He didn’t know whether to be relieved or pained at the fact that that seemed to have calmed her down slightly.

Finally, at 2:57, the horrific sound of hyperventilating had evened out significantly. Spinel seemed to be much more aware of her surroundings, which was good to see, but it unfortunately meant that she understood what had happened. As soon as she was able to speak clearly, more apologies spilled out of her mouth with such a franticness that it looked like she was about to work herself up all over again. It wasn’t until 3:01 when he was finally able to get her to stop.

Despite encouragement from him, Greg could see the tears coming a mile away, so at that point he figured the best he could do was offer a hug and let her cry it out. Spinel accepted, and sure enough, within thirty seconds she was bawling into his shoulder with her fingers digging into his back, trying to soak up as much contact as she could. Sensing that he was going to be there a while, he adjusted her so that she was comfortable and prepared himself for a long night.

He was rather shaken himself. Hearing Spinel sobbing was tearing him to shreds; he couldn’t even imagine how _she_ was feeling. It was all he could do to hold her, much like how he’d comforted Steven when he was younger, and try to give her reassurance that way. He didn’t say much aside from the occasional soft coos of comfort; there wasn’t much to say, really. It seemed as though they had sunk beneath that point in which words became meaningless noise.

It certainly didn’t help that Spinel’s crying sounded akin to that of a small child, setting every nerve in his body on fire.

It was 4:09 in the morning when the sobbing started to subside, and then at 4:23 Greg felt her form finally slump over. Whether she had fallen back asleep or exhausted herself to the point of passing out, he was unsure, and he allowed himself a dreary sigh. He briefly considered putting her back to bed, but after all of that she clearly needed the comfort. It wasn’t like this was the first time he’d stayed up half the night, anyway, although the circumstances this time around were much different.

For the next few hours, Greg leaned against the wall of the van and stewed in his thoughts. If he was being honest, he was...a little disturbed by what had gone down. The nightmare had been bad enough, but it wasn’t even the worst issue. Though Spinel had been rather shaken by whatever had been in her dreams, the more he thought about it, the more he realized that she hadn’t fully spiraled until he had appeared. Even after she had stabilized herself, she still tried to apologize to him for her “behavior” without a second thought, as if it was expected of her.

She had called him a Diamond. Greg visibly shuddered as he recalled it. It had been an accident, of course, and normally he didn’t mind other gems getting his name wrong, but there had been something incredibly off about it. Upon Spinel uttering that name, Greg had never seen anyone more terrified in his life. Coupled with the fact that she was essentially hiding from a bounty that those same Diamonds had put upon her head, presumably for her return, a very...unpleasant image was beginning to form.

Greg was not an angry man- it was something he prided himself on- and yet he could feel himself start to shake in barely-stifled rage just thinking about it. He hated assuming the worst in people. He had _tried_ to give the Diamonds the benefit of the doubt. Who was he to judge them, after all? Maybe there was a misunderstanding, maybe there had been a fight; he didn’t know. But now, he was fairly convinced that they had done something horrible to this poor gem. For her entire stay here, Spinel had been paranoid of his reaction to quite literally everything and fretting over even the slightest mention of punishment for things she couldn’t control. He _knew_ that fear, knew it like the back of his hand, and to see someone else going through it was destroying him inside. 

Steven had to know about this. Although it wasn’t as frequent as it had been, Greg knew that his son communicated with the Diamonds about a lot of things and traveled to Homeworld sometimes to meet with them. If they were flying off the handle again, then Steven needed to know.

Greg glanced over at his phone, which was propped up in a cup holder near the front seat. It was 7:38; Steven was usually up by now, but not so busy that he didn’t have time to check his phone. It was the perfect time for a chat.

But, Greg was aware that he could very well be misreading this. He wasn’t a gem. He often tried to stay away from gem stuff entirely, especially since he hardly understood most of it. For all he knew, everything had been fine on Homeworld and his own feelings on the matter were twisting it into something else.

No, one look at Spinel told him that this was not normal. And if his son was potentially in danger as well, then…

Carefully, Greg freed the collar of his shirt from Spinel’s clutches and gently eased her down onto the bed. He took a moment to make sure she was tucked in and comfortable, then quietly made his way to the front seat. Preparing himself, he opened up Steven’s contact.

_Hey Schtu-ball,_ he typed out gingerly.

The reply was almost immediate. _Hey dad! You're up early, what's up?_

_I wanted to ask you something if you’re not busy._

There was a pause. Greg watched Steven start to type, then stop, then type again. _Did something happen with spinel?_

Now it was Greg’s turn to try and think of a response. His slightly shaking thumbs hovered over the keypad for a while, not exactly wanting to go into detail.

_She had kind of a rough night._ Understatement of the century, but it worked for now. _When was the last time you visited the Diamonds?_

_Uhh like a month ago, why?_

Greg felt the doubt building up in the back of his head again, but he steeled himself. Bringing something like this up and being wrong was better than consciously letting it slip by without question. He would never forgive himself if that happened. _I was talking with Spinel last night and she said some things about the Diamonds that worried me a little, so I was wondering if you had picked up on anything weird going on lately._

Steven didn’t say anything for a while, and Greg wondered if he had messed up. He was about to send a quick “never mind” and not bring it up again when the little typing symbol appeared on Steven’s half of the screen.

_Now that you mention it i've been thinking a lot about why spinel left homeworld in the first place, i mean she had to have left for a reason. I actually wanted to talk to her when i visited last but the diamonds rushed me out of there so quickly i didn't have time. Idk just something seems wrong, they're strange gems but they're never like that._

Greg let out a sigh of relief. As awful as it was, he was glad he wasn’t the only one who had picked up on the “off” feeling.

_I was thinking the same thing. I know this gem stuff isn’t my forte but I wanted to let you know in case anything happened._

_No worries i get it. :) Thanks for letting me know, i'm kinda glad i'm not the only one who's noticed. The gems and i are trying to get anything about that bounty on her from aquamarine, and i'll see if i can look into homeworld sometime this week._

_Thanks, Schtu-ball :) Just please be careful._

Greg put down his phone and leaned on the front seat, running his fingers through his hair. His stomach still churned at the thought of the Diamonds, but at least it was being looked into now. He just hoped Steven would be a little more cautious around them. He wasn’t sure if he’d be able to handle both Steven and Spinel being put through the images that were starting to flash in the backs of his eyelids.

His phone suddenly buzzed, and he peered down at the new message. It was Steven again.

_Sooo...do i have a sister now? Lol_

Greg chuckled to himself, then typed out a message and sent it without hesitation. _Sure do._


End file.
